Supersecret
by Fallin' Brick Blues
Summary: Be careful when uncovering secrets - you might become one. WARNING!:May vary from philosophical to random content.Just like life.
1. Graveyard shift

Authors note: Nothing too serious. Can't say if it'll really stay this way. Enjoy.

"What exactly are we guarding here?" shrugged the soldier.

"You like to ask a lot of questions, don't you?" hissed the other one, "Looking to get brainwiped again by the suits?"

"No! No! It's just they bring so many of these rays and devices and stuff, but we never get to know what the machines we guard actually do. Doesn't it just make you a little curious?" continued the first soldier.

"Listen, Mike, whatever they got there will be stolen again. Why can't you just wait till they show it on TV like those last times?" the second soldier was getting iritated.

"I don't have cable." Mike sighed.

"Oh, well then..."

BOOOOM!

The soldier was just begining his sentence when a flash of green light blew of the security doors in the front of the hall.

"Here we go again" Mike nodded with another sigh.

"Hello, boys!" Shego smiled at the two," Pulling the graveyard shift, Paul?"

"Graveyard shift sounds like a ball compared to this." Paul smiled, "How's the grass on your side?"

"And where's Doc?" Mike added.

Shego walked up to the door, trying to find out a way to open it.

"One at a time, fellas, one at a time" she said, placing her palms on the door.

"The locks are mounted in the frame, not the door." Paul prompted casually. Shego nodded her head and walked over to the side of the door moving Mike out of the way.

"I had a small vacation, so my grass is greener then ever. Doc D's making the preparations for my return with the do-whacky. And you?"

"Same old, same old" shrugged the soldiers.

"By the way, there are two X55-D sentry bots behind the door." Mike pointed his thumb back as Shego began to melt the locking bars of the door. "One is armed with a phase-cannon and the other is rigged to a chaingun."

"Max's ?" asked the villain, making her way to, now, the forth bar.

"Yup" beamed Paul.

"The guys decided to name them 'She-She' and 'Go-Go' in your honor." Mike smiled at the green girl.

"Awwww... That's so sweet!"

"Don't mention it." chimed the jarheads in a unison.

The door gave in, falling down. Shego was in and out before the soldiers could count to thirty.

"Well?" she asked, while trying to convienently position the stolen gadget underneath her right arm.

"Four seconds off, Lady Green" Paul showed her the stop-watch.

"Those new bots of yours were quite good. Though Go-Go's chaingun is a little jumpy and She-She's cannon is too clumsy for close combat."

"We'll tell Max, he'll work on it." Mike assured.

"Good. See you next time, guys!" Shego turned on her heel and ran off with the gadget in her hands.

The soldiers stood at their posts like nothing happened.

"Did you happen to see what the gadget was?" Mike looked back at his colleague.

"Mike, we've been through this," Paul groaned, "Get cable!"


	2. Black Ops

"Major Dexter Troy reporting for duty!" the commando spoke loudly, his hand raised to his masked head. The superior in front of him sat completely unmoved.

"At ease, Major. Please be seated." said the man calmly. The soldier did so.

"Today, at about 0430 hours a dangerous piece of technology was stolen from a top secret underground base in New Mexico."

The commando sat silent, maintaining his look on his superior.

"Normally we would leave it to our government friends and Kim Possible, but this particular project is so secret that even she can not know of it's existence and most importantly - operation."

"A standard 'strike and retrieve', Sir?" Dex mumbled through his face-mask.

"If possible, major, yes. However, if it can not be retrieved, your mission is to destroy it." the officer hushed for a second,"Are we clear?"

"Crystal, sir." nodded the soldier "What are my objectives?"

"You are to infiltrate Dr. Drakken's island and retrieve the "Package". As I've said before: If the package becomes infused with a larger device that is not possible to retrieve or if the circumstances impede the retrieval of the "Package" you must make sure that it doesn't fall into anyone else's hands."

"Not even Kim Possible's." The soldier added.

"Especially, Kim Possible's" accentuated the officer.

"Understood."

"You will be HA-LO dropped into the island, after that, everything, including the planning and execution of the mission, is in your hands."

"Understood" Repeated the soldier.

"I don't need to remind you that this is Black Ops, do I?"

"No, sir." the commando muttered out grimly.

"Very well." sighed the officer," I only ask you to keep your eccentricities to a minimum level. We don't want another "Goldfish" on our hands."

The soldier grunted.

"When do I depart, sir?"

"Immediately."

"And If I were to meet Possible on the Island?" inquired the commando.

"That... is your problem, Major." smiled the officer.

The soldier saluted and marched out of the room. He closed the door on his way out.

"Kim Possible - my problem?" mused the soldier silently, "Wonderful. Mutations, aliens, rogue AI's and now teenagers. I have to write a Will if I get out of this one."


	3. Dex from above!

Authors note: Still nothing too serious. I hope.

5 km south-east of Drakken's island. 0716 hours. VTOL Stealth insertion craft "H-989VS Hummingbird".

"Another one of them 'don't ask or I'll kill ya' jobs, Dex?" The pilot turned to his passanger.

"Another one, Mack." sighed the soldier, " At least I got my normal briefing. Not a rhymed one like last time."

"Rhymed one?" the pilot's left eyebrow shot upward, " Any chance that you still remember it?"

The soldier sighed.

"Hey-oh, Mr. Demolition,

I've got you another mission

You've got to (don't ask me why)

Parachute down from the sky

Rig the SAMs and watch em' blow

Then you signal for a go!

Choppers with soldiers land from the sky

Then we make em' hurt, then we make em' cry!"

The pilot started laughing outloud.

"You Field types get the weirdest stuff on your plates!"

"Believe me, Mack" Dex shook his head sadly," You simply do not want to know."

"I Believe ya, Dex" snickered the pilot and wiped the tears from his eyes, "I Believe ya."

_"Optimum alttitude reached. Angle adjusted. Airborne insertion in 15 seconds." announced a soft, robotic voice._

"The Lady's callin yer name, boy. Better get your gear on." The pilot smiled before pressing a switch to open the bay door.

_"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Geen light!"_

"Good luck, Dex! Make em' hurt, make em' cry!" shouted the pilot one last time.

"Will do." shouted back the commando and dived out into the wind.

The island was just a drop away.

* * *

"SHEEEEEEEGOOOOOOOO!" Drakken shouted at the top of his lungs.

"What now, Doc?" Shego asked, peaking over the latestet headlines of "EVIL" magazine.

"Shego, is this somekind of a sick joke? I told you to bring me a functional Nano-organic grid manipulator and all I got was this!" shouted the mad scientist slamming a can of peas on his table.

"It was in a titanium plated box with a data-coded lock that took three super computers to decode! How the hell was I supposed to know it had canned peas in it!" Shego responded loudly, but not too enthusiasticly," Why don't you go research them or something, instead of shouting like someone kicked you in the can?"

Drakken turned purple for a second.

"Well... Well... You go watch the island instead of readding that pulp!"

"They're YOUR magazines!" shouted back the green-skinned villain.

"Then put MY magazines down and go DO SOMETHING!!"

The magazine in Shego's hands slwoly became green ashes.

"FINE!" She shouted throwing her arms up and scattering the ashes, "At least it will get me away from all this nagging... For a while."

* * *

A combat boot slowly stepped out of the bush. The other one followed.

"Keep out. Haunted." The commando read the sign in an undertone,"Sounds intimidating. Wonder why the Germans didn't use this back at Omaha beach."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!" two streams of green plasma flashed out of the nearby cave. The soldier dashed forward into the bushes in front of him to avoid detection.

He pulled out a fiber optic cam and carefully pushed it through the leaves. Shego stomped by nearly stepping on it. Luckily she didn't see him.

"Of all the monster and mad-scientist islands I had to land in one that's got women." he mumbled to himself silently after she walked away,"Great."

"You think that's bad?" he heard a mocking voice behind his back, " I actually have to LIVE here!"

The soldier turned onto his back, only to face the dangerous glow of Shegos clawed glove.

"Nice manicure. Job of the local smiths?"

"Funny. Care to tell me your name before I vaporize you along with your mask, Spy-boy?" she asked menacingly.

"Sorry. Can't." shrugged the commando," Technicly, I'm not even here."

"Really?" Shego growled.

"See for yourself." Dex beamed, exploding a flash charge in his hand, completely blinding the green one. When Shego regained vision, he was already gone.

"Oh, he's good. He's really good. But he ain't nowhere near perfect." Shego grinded her teeth bounciing her look all around," I'M GOING TO FIND YOU SPY-BOY! EVEN IF I HAVE TO TAKE THE WHOLE ISLAND APART! ROCK BY ROCK!"

Dexter was a good deal away by the time the echoe of her voice caught up with him. He smiled beneath his balaclava.

"Don't worry, Green. If you give me enough time. You won't have to..."

_"Radio call in 10 minutes. Demo-charge #4 - set. Have a nice day!"_


	4. On time

"When did this happen, Wade?" Kim yelled to the communicator as she dragged Ron through the halls of Middleton high.

"About twelve minutes ago! Drakkens islands alarms started blaring and all of Drakkens henchmen just started running around the island like crazy!" Wade was flaping his hands around, trying to portray the chaos.

"Maybe the GJ are running an operation..."

"I already checked. All their operations are being conducted elswhere. They're sending one of their infiltrator jets to pick you up."

"T.I.?" Kim tried another one.

"They're on vacation."

"Maybe they're conducting fire drills?" Ron shrugged, already following Kim on his own.

"I don't think they would be in so much of a panic in case of a fire drill, Ron."

"I would!" Ron shouted out as their voices were consumed by the sound of a landing GJ hypersonic aircraft.

The hatch opened up and both, Ron and Kim, sprinted onto the jet.

"How quick can you get us to Drakkens lair?" Kim asked while putting on a helmet.

The pilot smiled, "How quick can ya blink?"

* * *

"Move! Move! Move!" Shego shouted through the megaphone, " Those bombs won't defuse themselves!"

Dexter watched the whole commotion from afar, while carefuly examining the islands layout.

"Those few charges got them running like bad they don't have the slightest idea of what's coming." mused the commando as he observed the chaos in front of him,"On the other hand, maybe that's a good thing."

His eyes caught a high-speed aircraft rocketing through the sky. It slowed down, apparently, to drop some paratroopers.

Dex brought up a monocular to his right eye. Only when the lens focused did he realise that he's holding his breath.

"Possible." sighed the soldier,"What are the odds..."

Suddenly he realised the danger.

If Kim gets to Drakken before he does, she will, no doubt, learn about the 'Can'.

"Damn. I've got to hustle." said the soldier to himself as he kicked off towards the lair,"Hope they'll be too busy to notice me."

* * *

  
"Hey, Frank! I found one!" shouted one of Drakkens henchmen.

"Where?" his collegue stuck his head out of the bushes.

"Down here! Look!"

The two carefully walked up to the device. It was beeping silently.

"You know anything about disarming bombs, H?" Frank asked.

"Relax. I've cut through more wires than a hobby-store rat." assured the guy.

"How come?"

"Used to fix TV's" H explained.

"TV's?" Frank turned almost pale,"It's a bomb, Hillary!"

"TV's, bombs, hair-dryers. Same thing." calmed 'the expert'," You just have to break the circuit and you're home-free."

He positioned his pliers on an exposed wire.

"I don't think that's the right one." someone said.

Frank and Hillary slowly looked up from the bomb. There was a strange guy standing in front of them. He was dressed in black combat gear and wearing a black facemask, his eyes covered by imossible to see through glass goggles. Didn't seem to cause any problem to the stranger, though.

"Who are you?" Frank asked, wrinkling his eyebrows.

"New guy.", the strange type replied casually, "Came to see Doctor Drakken for a job interview."

The henchmen exchanged glances, then shrugged.

"You know anything about explosives, Rookie?" Hillary inquired.

"Oh, yeah! Used to work for the postal service."

"Can ya help us out?" Frank shrugged.

"Sure," said the rookie, kneeling down," Cut the yellow wire, then the red wire, then the blue one. Simple."

Hillary did as he was told. The beeping stopped.

"Thanks, kid. We owe ya one." Frank said, breathing his lungs out in relief.

"Can you tell me the quickest way to Drakkens HQ?"

"Sure. There's a staff elevator at the foot of the mountain. You'll need a password to use it." Frank explained.

"And the password is?"

"3557"

"I trully thank you." nodded the new guy and turned towards the mountain, "Question."

"Yeah?" Hillary and Frank shrugged.

"Does Drakken have some sort of personel selection program or something?" asked the 'Rookie'.

The henchmen looked at each other, puzzled.

"Not that we know of." Frank shook his head.

Dexter turned around, throwing a shock charge at the two, knocking them out.

"He realy ought to."

* * *

  
"I'll have to include this in the after-action report," Dex gritted through his teeth,angrily looking at the elevators speaker that constantly played the notorious 'elevator tune'.

The small box was slowly moving up, but the cheesy music made it seem even slower. Dexter sighed.

"I can't take any more of this."

He pulled out his silenced pistol and fired a round into the speaker. The only sound left was the operation of the lifting mechanism.

The commando holstered his weapon, picked up the ejected casing from the floor and started twirling it around for it to cool.

"Come on already," he grunted. The elevator was really taking it's time. His too.

BING!

The door opened.

"Finally," Dexter sighed in relief,"Hope I'm not too late."

In front of him were Shego and Kim Possible, frozen in their fighting stance. Drakken and Ron, locked in a struggle for the 'Can'. Everyones eyes were on the elevator. So much for stealth.

"Just in time," frowned the soldier, "Just in time."


	5. Channel 3

Authors note: This is getting serious. Should I stop? You tell me!

The whole room seemed to be frozen in time. Nobody moved. Nobody talked. Nobody breathed. Everyone was waiting for something to happen. Anything.

Dexter turned his head, left and right, then cleared his throat.

"Carry on." he nodded.

"YOU!" Shegos eye twitched as she struck her finger at the soldier.

"Really?" Dex asked mockingly.

"You planted the bombs!" Shego continued shouting.

"Meh."

"It was you that knocked the guards out!"

"Some of them. "shrugged the commando.

"You are the reason THEY are HERE!" the villain pointed her black gloved hand at Kim.

"Whoa,whoa,whoa,whoa!" Dexter shouted, carefully walking forward," The bombs? Me. The guards? Guilty. Them?" he made a small pause,"Ummm... Blame their travel agent."

"GRRRRRRRRRRR!" Shego growled, ready to throw a handful of plasma at the soldier.

"WAIT!" Kim shouted as she snapped out of the strange trance.

"What?!" the green villain gritted her teeth.

"Who are you?" asked the teen.

"Me?" Dexter asked the obvious, trying to buy himself some time to come up with some answer," I-uh..."

"DEAD MEAT!" the fireball in Shegos hand grew even bigger.

"No! Wait!" the soldier shook his hand,"I'm a treasure hunter!"

The fireball faded.

"I'm sorry... W-what?" Drakken babbled.

"A guy who looks for very old, ancient things to sell to museums." Dexter explained,"Treasure hunter."

Everyone seemed to be stupefied.

"Ummm... Question?" Ron let go of the can and raised his hand," If you are looking for really old things and stuff, why did you come here?"

The soldier scratched his head.

"Well-uh... I was looking for-uh... Looking for... Hmmm..." Dex scratched his chin.

A new green fireball began to grow in Shego's hand.

"I came here because... I think that this is the very place, where once was the city of..." the soldier made a pause to increase the tension," ATLANTIS!

The first few seconds were of deafening silence, then...

"Pfffft-BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAA!" Shego was the first one to burst. Others joined in moments later. Soon the whole tower was filled with echoes of uncontrollable laughter.

"What's so funny?!" Dexter shouted out loud.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! EHEH! ATLANTIS! HERE! HAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!" Drakken thundered.

"THE NEXT THING YOU'RE GONNA TELL US IS THAT THIS IS WHERE JIMMY HOFFA WAS BURIED! BWAHAHAHAHA!" Shego shouted out while trying to keep her insides from exploding.

"I'M SORRY FOR LAUGHING!" Kim apologized and somehow managed to calm herself," What makes you think that this is...," she took a deep breath," Atlantis... Hehehehe... Sorry. Hahaha!"

"Extensive research and thorough historical analysis has prompted me to this location..."

Dexter realised that noone is paying attention.

"... AND I AM PREPARED TO BOMB THIS ISLAND TO GET TO THE CITY BENEATH IT!!"

Everyone stopped laughing. Ron took some time to catch up.

"Can you repeat that?" Kim inquired.

"I'm going to scuttle this island with explosives in order to get to the lost city below it." explained the soldier casually.

"Question. How are you going to do that?" Ron raised his hand again.

"I've set bombs all around the island, which, when detonated, will divide this island into smaller parts and then, the water between them will wash the whole island away and into various local underwater streams."

Shego smiled.

"Oh yeah, Sockhead?" she taunted, "Well guess what - we found your explosives. I vaporized them myself. Even if we didn't find all of them, you still wouldn't be able to scuttle the island with what's left! You've got nothing!"

Dexter smiled beneath his balaclava.

"Were those explosives a bunch of red sticks, tied together, wires sticking out, beeping..." Dexter began naming the charachteristics of your average cartoon bomb.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. All that." Shego waved off the rest of it.

The soldier showed a remote resembling device in his left hand. There was an audible click.

"Explosives 101, lesson one. Bombs are not brightly colored, don't have exposed wires and DO NOT beep."

Shegos eyes began growing.

"Lesson two. Bombs that are brightly colored, have exposed wires and beep are either a trap, a distraction or a work of someone who watches too much TV."

By this time Shegos eyes were so big you could use them as mirrors.

"Lesson three. If a detonator signal is sent there is no way of stopping a demolition sequence." Dexter cleared his throat, "Any questions?"

Everyone was silent.

Beep-Beep-BeBeep!

Suddenly Kim's communicator started ringing.

Beep-Beep-BeBeep!

Everyone's looks fell on her.

"Sorry," Kim whispered reaching for her pocket,"Can I?"

"Go ahead" nodded the soldier.

Beep-Beep-BeBeep!

The girl clicked the answer button.

"Wade..."

"Listen, Kim. It's urgent." poured the speaker.

"Good news?" Kim tried to break out a smile.

"Not one bit." Wade shook his head, "Moments ago there was a strange signal sent from Drakkens tower. It swept through the whole island. I calculated the signal range and marked the spots where the signal was weaker than the normal sig outline and deep-scanned some of them. Now listen carefully - the whole island is rigged with powerful, experimental grade explosives. If they detonate..."

"We know," Kim sighed.

"... the whole island will... Wait? What?" the genius' train of thought derailed as the fact hit him.

"We know smartguy! WE KNOW!" Shego shouted.

"How?" Wade raised his eyebrow.

Kim turned the communicator around to show Dexter, holding the remote.

"Hi! How ya doin'?" the soldier beamed cheerfully then pulled out his pistol and fired a round into the device, blowing a chunk of it off.

"T-there is no need for v-violence." Drakken stuttered,"You're a smart man. I'm sure we can resolve this in a civilised manner. Surely there is some way to reach compromise."

"Really?" Dex smiled.

"Yes."

"Alright. Sounds reasonable." nodded the commando," I will drop the whole scuttling plan if you give me... That can of peas."


	6. Getaway

"Peas?" Kim raised her eyebrow. She turned to look at Ron who was now carefully examining the tin can in his hand.

"You went through all this trouble in search for a legendary city and now you're simply going to walk away if we give you a can of peas?" Shegos eye twitched.

"Yep." nodded the soldier.

"CAN YOU MAKE EVEN LESS SENSE?!" She shouted out in his face.

Dexter flicked up the safety cover on the ignition button.

"I can, but I don't think you'd want that."

Shego took a deep breath and let it go.

"I think we need a moment to confer." She beamed grabbing Kim by the shoulder and dragging her towards Ron and Drakken.

* * *

"Everlast canned peas. They last forever." Kim read the label.

"Talk to me, Doc." Shego looked at her 'Boss',"What's so great about this can that this guy thinks it's worth of Atlantis?"

"How should I know?" Drakken hissed, "I'm a mad-scientist and he's just mad."

"Show me that thing." Shego whispered, snatching it out of Kims hand.

"I ran a scan and some tests on it and found nothing special about these peas." Drakken stated," This guy is simply insane. That's it."

"Gee... Did you need to test for that too?" Kim mumbled.

"I wonder if he's really an archeologist." Ron said, rolling the can around in his hand.

The rest looked at Ron, obviously annoyed.

"If this can is so ordinary, then why don't we just give it to him." Kim offered.

"Really? I never thought about that." Shego taunted, "Get real. The can must be another distraction or a trap... Where is the damn thing, anyway?"

"Ron?" Kim turned to her friend.

"Not here, KP."

"Doctor D?"

"I gave it to the Buffoon."

Shego and Kim exchanged glances. They slowly turned towards the elevator. The only thing they saw was shifting numbers as it traveled down.

"He is so going to get it." Kim gritted through her teeth. Shego crackled her knuckles.

"And then some!"

* * *

Mack was snoozing in his helicopter when he heard a loud thud. He rose his eyes up.

"Five." the pilot sighed heavily as he watched yet another bird slip down the front window.

The aircrafts thermo-optic camouflage system rendered it completely invisible to the naked eye. Electronic detection countermeasures made it impossible to spot with radars and thermal imagers. The only thing that could give away his position was a bunch of birds lying around the helicopter.

Mack yawned and continued to doze. Just as he closed his eyes a burst of static and sounds of explosions started pouring our of the helmet-mounted earphones.

"99-Bravo this is Tango-2-Delta. Over."

The pilot jumped up in his seat and pressed his left hand to the left side of the helmet.

"99-Bravo, copy! Over!"

"I'm on my way to the randevous point, but I'm being pursuited by unfriendlies. Over."

The pilot fired of a few curses and started up the engine. The blades began spinning and moments later the helicopter was in the air.

"The bird's airborne ready, Delta. Keep on moving, you're not far. Over."

Mack pushed some buttons and the back of the helicopter opened. The pilot looked past his shoulder. He could see Dex fighting off Shegos metal claws. Finally Dex mannaged to pull out a flash-bang and blind her with the explosion.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!! Not again!" Shego growled.

The soldier rolled over and jumped on his feet.

"Move! Move! Move!" shouted the pilot.

Dexter jumped inside.

"Get us out of here! Now!"

The helicopter peeled off the ground.

"Phew!" sighed the soldier, "Close call."

Suddenly he felt something hit him in the rear. Dex snapped his head back.

There was a grapling hook stuck in his backpack. The line tensed.

"Oh, crap!" Dex shouted, grabbing the door hydraulics. He swiftly pulled his knife and cut one of the straps. He was about to cut the second one, but then it hit him - the 'Package' was in the bag.

He didn't have a lot of time to think. His grip was giving in.

The solidier opened up one of the backpack comapartments and pulled out three safety-pins.

"You want it - you got it!" he shouted, letting go of the bag.

He watched as it exploded over the ocean.

Dex sat down on the cold, metal floor of the stealth-chopper and watched as the hatch slowly closed up.

"Ahhhhh," he breathed his lungs out,"Guess I should start writing that Will..."

The helicopter disappeared into the clouds.

* * *

Meanwhile. Back at the Island.

The trees rustled as something fell through the branches and...

"Ow!" someone screamed," What the... Hey! Hey, KP! Guess what I found!"

TO BE CONTINUED... (?)

* * *


	7. Dream

BEBEBEBEEP! BEBEBEBEEP! BEBEBEBEEP!

Kim sprang out of bed and into her closet ten rushed down the stairs and... froze.

"Wait a second!" she turned towards the calendar, posted on the wall. It was Sunday.

Kim walked up to it and peeled of a post-it that was stuck to the date.

"Mornin'. Jim and Tim."

She crushed the piece of paper in her hand.

"I am SO going to murder them."

Kim felt her stomach growl.

"Great." she mumbled turning towards the refrigerator. There was another message held by a fridge magnet.

"Took Jim and Tim too the football match and went shopping. Back in 4 hours. Love, Mom. P.S. Make yourself breakfast."

Kim opened up the fridge. There was a week-old ham sandwitch inside.

"Nope."

A piece of hard-as-nails cheese.

"Next."

Barbeque sauce.

"Pffft! What does Mom take me for? The Kitchen McGuyver?"

'Everlast' canned peas.

"How'd that get there?"

Kim stared at the can in silence, then snatched it out of the fridge and slammed it on the table.

She started pacing around the room, throwing glances at the thing. Finally she grabbed the can, dissecting it with a can opener.

Kim burried the spoon into the marinade solution and pulled up three peas.

"One way to find out."

She slurped the peas off the spoon and carefully crunched one of them.

"Hmmm..." she roled her eyes around," Not bad."

Kim quickly spooned her way to the buttom of the can, then checked if there's anything left and dumped in a trashcan.

"I'd wish to see the look on that 'Treasure hunters' face, right know." She smiled, remembering last weeks battle.

"Data not found." she heard her own voice echoe in her head.

"What the..." Kim looked around. Noone was there.

"Beginnig full memory scan."

Suddenly sights and sounds of the encounter with the commando started pouring into her eyes and ears.

"Data not found. Deep-scanning initiated." her own voice said.

The visions became even more intense. Her head started to hurt.

"What's hapenning to me?" she asked herself.

"Memory deep-scan in progrress."

"STOP!" she shouted at the top of her lungs and everything stopped.

"Thank you." Kim mumbbled feebly and collapsed on the floor.

* * *

'Hellbroom ridge' underground military base.

"Sir!" the corporal shouted as he barged in through the door.

"The hell... Can't you knock, Corporal?" roared the Colonel the soldier.

"Sorry, sir." apologized the soldier," But we have a situation."

"What is it?"

"We got a call from the NSA - Echelon 4 has detected major traffic disorders throghout the global net."

The Colonel paled.

"Project 'Horus'." he whispered.

"We believe so, sir." nodded the Corporal.

The Colonel sat silent for a minute.

"Get me Major Troy." he sighed, knitting his fingers together.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Helicopter blades were spinning, causing wind in the underground hangar. Dexter walked up to it and climbed aboard.

"Seems that you like to travel a lot, huh, Dex?" Mack smiled at the commando as he walked up to him and sat down.

"Yeah." he nodded," Too bad I don't get to pick the destination."

"Ever been to Middleton?" asked the pilot.

"Is it in Bosnia?" Dexter inquired with sarcasm.

"No."

"Then no."

"Well, it's your lucky day, then! Because that's where we're going!" Mack laughed.

"Don't say 'lucky' outloud, Mack. Old lady Irony might strain herself." Dex smiled.

"Sarcastic as ever, Dex." the pilot shook his head," By the way, there's a 'Mirror suit' in the bag by the chair. Kim Lin thought you might need it."

"Give her my thanks when you get back." said the soldier, tapping the air-jockey on the shoulder.

_"Dreamer-1, Dreamer-1, this is 99-Bravo requesting permission to take off. Over."_

Dex pulled out the envelope that contained his mission objectives.

_"Permission granted, 99, you are good to go."_

The skylight opened up above the helicopter.

The soldier started flicking through the pages and maps. Skipping the official stuff.

_"Counter electronics initiated, thermo-optics on charge."_

"Operation 'Sector gate'. Covert VIP Detail. Subject - Kimberly Ann..." Dex sighed," Possible."

_"Thermo-optic camouflage charged. 99-Bravo, initiating 'Active stealth'."_

* * *

Kim woke up in her bed. She looked at her alarm-clock. It was 12:37 AM.

"Ahhhhh" she sighed with relief, "Thank, God! It was only a dream."

"Really?"

Kim heard a strange voice and quickly turned her head to it's direction. It was Dexter. Sitting on a chair, right in her room with a book in his hand.

He smiled beneath his face mask.

"Was I in it?"

* * *

Authors note: There you have it! I'm not sure if it's the thing you expected, but please try to enjoy. Luck in life!


	8. All about IT

Kim silently stared at the soldier that was sitting in her room.

"Relax. I'm not gonna hurt you." he said cassualy, keeping his eyes on the book.

"Who..."

"Major Dexter Troy, sent here to safeguard you because you ate a can of peas which were packed with nanobots that, allow it's host to channel and control global net traffic. Now, everyone who knows of the secret project are out to get you and I'm here to make sure they don't." he threw the book away and turned towards the teenager,"Call me 'Dex', if you want."

Kim's train of thought was stopped dead in it's tracks by the verbal assault.

"You... I mean... Wait a minute? Nanobots?"

"Yep. Teeny-tiny micro-robots that can do anything they're programmed to." poured out the soldier.

"But Wade said that the peas were completely normal."

"They were." Dexter nodded,"But the nanobots inside them - weren't."

"Then why wasn't he able to find them?"

"He probably ran a bio-scan on em'." shrugged the soldier," I don't blame him. I mean, who would consider bombarding a can of peas with data streams?"

"So, that's why you put them in the can." Kim frowned.

"Not a bad idea, really, but some wiseguy decided to put the can into a class 4 security container." said the commando grimly," Which was a dead giveaway and it got stolen."

"Obviously by mistake."

"No. By that green chick - Ego."

"Shego." Kim corrected him, cracking a smile.

"Right." nodded the soldier," Anyway. Saladface..."

Kim snorted.

"... couldn't crack the container so she took it back to Dragons lair."

"Drakken."

"Beg your pardon?"

"His name is Drakken. Doctor Drakken." Kim repeated.

"He's a doctor?" Dexter rose his brow. The girl nodded."Looks more like a patient."

Kim laughed.

"Anyway. The container had a tracking device installed. The sattelite locked onto it and I was sent to retrieve it." the soldier continued.

"But why did you..." Kim wanted to ask but was cut off by the soldier.

"You're probably want to ask me, why didn't we ask you for help?"

"Yes." she frowned. She hated to be interupted.

"Well... You probably won't like this, but..." Dexter made a short pause,"Since you and gadgets have a bad history of "public exposure", you were deemed as a hazard for Class 4 projects."

"Class 4?"

"Project 'Hermes', project 'Centurion'." the soldier shrugged,"Ring a bell?"

Kim casted her look down.

"That's why they sent me instead, with strict orders to make sure it doesn't fall into your hands."

He leaned back in the chair.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to carry out my objectives effectively, because of your persistence and THIS happened." Dex sighed heavilly.

"This is irony, right." Kim tried to smile.

"Oh, I think it's passed that."

"So, what's going to happen to me?" she asked, looking the soldier straight in the eyes.

"I already told you - I'm here to guard you."

"I mean, what will these nanobots do to me? Will I turn green? Grow a pair of antennas?" Kim tried to imagine this metamorphosis.

"Like I said - they can do anything you program to do, but these are programmed to route and control internet traffic, meanning that you have access to any information on the web. Be it your local library, the pentagon or your neighbours computer, just by thinking about it." explained the soldier," Supposedly, these nanobots are capable of addapting to the nervous system of their host."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Both." Dex nodded," Some of them integrate into your body's nervous system while others simply float around in your blood stream. The good thing is - the body doesn't reject them and they are easy to control. The bad thing - since some of the nanobots have integrated into your body, you are much more susceptible to electro-magnetic pulse."

"Is there some way to get it out of me?"

"A radiation bath and three full blood transfusions with a survival rate of about 14." the soldier stated, but, uppon witnessing Kim's scared facial expression, added,"Stay cool. We're working on it."

"Meanwhile," the commando spoke again," we put a special bracelet on your leg..."

Kim checked her leg and found a white, puffy, bracelet tightly clasped just above the ankle.

"It will help you to control the activity of the nanobots and unwanted data streams from the net." Dexter explained.

"Unwanted data streams?"

"You know..." mumbled the soldier," Viruses,Spam... Porn."

"Wha..."

BAM!

The door opened with a bang and Ron barged in with some take-out snacks.

"Hey, KP! Feelin better?" he asked loudly, walking up to the soldier and handing him a cheeseburger," Here you go, my good man."

"Ron? You know him?" Kim asked in surprise.

"Sure. He helped me carry you here." Ron answered, taking a bite of a still-warm taco,"And watched over you while I was getting us some chow."

Rufus sticked his head out of the take out bag, munching a piece of some sort of fast food mexican delight.

"You've been out for quite some time." Dex said, rolling up his face mask and taking a bite of his cheesburger.

"For how long?"

"About two hours." the soldier stated.

"But how did you two get to know eachother?" Kim inquired.

"You didn't tell her?" Ron turned to the masked type.

"Didn't get an oportunity."

"Then why don't you tell me?" Kim smiled.

"Alright." Ron nodded," Grab a Taco and settle in..."

* * *

Authors note: Sorry for making it so long. I had to cover a lot things, thus expanding in lenghth. Hope you won't mind. Enjoy and luck in life!


	9. Two of a kind

"It was like this..." Ron started taking a bite of taco," I was cruising down to your place when all of a sudden I saw someone slip under your garage door."

"The front door was too obvious and I couldn't fit in the chimney." Dex commented.

"So I followed him in."

"What followed after was simply... Well... Weird."

* * *

Dexter scanned the living room for any surveilience devices. Despite the fact that this house was the residence of someone who is a major pain in the neck for most of the criminals, he failed to find even the slightest surveilience equipment.

"This is wrong." he sighed at the lack of challenge. The soldier continued through the room, silently.

He almost slipped on a bunch of red hair.

"Oops." he whispered, carefully raising his foot and stepping over them.

* * *

Kim pulled her hair around, throwing an angry glance at Dex.

"Sorry about that." the soldier mumbled while chewing the burger," Anyway. There you were."

* * *

"Well,looky here." Dexter beamed,"Sawing logs on the floor while the whole net is going hay-wire 'cause of ya."

He bent over her.

"But you don't care do you? Nooooo... Because you're unconscious!"

* * *

"That's when I stepped in!" Ron continued.

* * *

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Dex snapped his head back. It was Ron, standing in the doorway.

"Me?" the soldier pointed at his chest,"Oh... I'm just the plumber. Yep. I was called here to fix the garbage disposal. Name's Nick. Nick Saint."

"Wait a minute? Ain't you the 'treasure hunter' guy we fought last week?" Ron narrowed his eyes.

"Treasure hunter?" the soldier asked with pretended surprise," Well... I have found some good stuff in sink traps a few times, but I wouldn't call myself a 'Treasure hunter'."

Ron moved closer, and discovered Kim lying on the floor.

"Kim!" Ron shouted," What have you done to her?!"

"Nothing?" the soldier slowly shook his head.

* * *

"He didn't believe me." Dex sighed.

* * *

"I don't believe you!" shouted Ron, assuming his fighting stance.

"Hey, I'm not blaming you." shrugged the soldier," I know how it looks like, but trust me I didn't..."

"HYA!" Ron jumped forward, aiming to kick Dexter in the chest.

* * *

"At first I thought something bit him."

* * *

Dex dodged to the left and quickly rolled back on his feet. Ron came after him, swinging his hands and legs around.

* * *

"But it was Ron, going all karate on me."

"Monkey kung-fu." Ron corrected him.

"Right."

* * *

"WOO-HA-YA-WAAAAAAA!" continued the monkey fighter.

"Dodge,dodge,dodge!" Dex shouted, as he tried to avoid Ron's kicks and punches.

* * *

"Almost broke your mom's favorite vase."

* * *

Dex dropped on the ground to evade another blow. Ron's kick landed on the wall, sending a shockwave that threw the nearby vase on the ground. Luckily Dexter was quick enough to catch it.

"Kim's Mom's favorite vase" Ron gasped.

The soldier slowly lifted it up and gave it to Ron who carefully placed it back where it was.

"Phew" Ron swept the sweat off his forehead," That was intense."

"So is this!" Dex shouted and threw a mini-flashbang into the air.

BANG!

Ron felt a kick to the back of his knee and preasure on his chest and neck as he was pressed to the ground.

When he regained sight he saw Dex kneeling on his chest with his fist lifted to strike.

"Lights out, Grasshopper!" he shouted and was about to whack Ron when suddenly...

* * *

"Tadaaa!" Rufus jumped out of the take-out bag.

* * *

Rufus got onto Ron's chest and stuck his paw up.

"Is that... A naked mole rat?" Dex asked, shaping his fist into a finger and pointing at the little critter.

"U-huh." Ron huffed. It was hard to talk when you had a fully equiped commando kneeling on your diaphragm.

"Cool."

"Can you, uh , get off of me?" Ron inquired.

"Sure" Dex nodded, helping his opponent up.

* * *

"Now, Rufus has an official title of 'Peacemaker'." Dexter smiled,"Then we brought you up here and I cuffed the EACU bracelet on your foot.

"And since we couldn't find ANYTHING to eat - I volounteered to get us some chow while Dex sat guard." Ron added.

"The end." Both said in chorus.

"Forgot to mention - I ate that piece of cheese in the fridge." Dex added.

"Sick and wrong, dude." Ron shook his head," Sick and wrong."

Kim sat smiling with the untouched and now cold taco in her hands.

"You gonna eat that?" Dex asked, pointing at the thing.

The girl looked at the food, then smiled and took a bite.

"I only had a can of nanobot stuffed peas for breakfast, so... Yeah."

Suddenly they heard a car engine and opening of the garage doors.

"Your mom's back." Ron announced.

"Aha! Food!" Rufus squeaked.

Seconds later sounds of footsteps on the stairs were heard. Jim and Tim stuck their heads into Kim's bedroom.

"Hey lovebirds!" Tim beamed.

"Watcha doin?" Jim smiled.

Kim turned her head towards Dex's chair. There was noone there.

* * *

A.N.: Right. Nothing too much. Just standard comedy. Have a nice read. Luck in life.


	10. Undercover

"Kim" Dex said into his PDA communicator,"You there?"

"You talkin to me?" Came the voice from the speaker.

"It'd be funnier if you said it in DiNero's voice, Lin." smiled the soldier.

"Right." nodded the girl,"Anything to report?"

"Established contact. Briefed the subject and cuffed the EACU. Awaiting orders."

"Does anyone in her family know you're there?" Kim Lin asked, working the keyboard.

"No. Only her boyfriend. Ron."

"Good. Just like it should be."

Dex was silent for a second.

"She's going to school tomorrow."

"So?" Kim shrugged.

"You think they'll let me in, dressed like this?" the commando asked sarcasticly.

"You've got the mirror-suit."

"It takes a minute to cool after five minutes of use. You're a technologist. You should know that."

"Alright. Hold on, hold on." calmed the techy. Sounds of keyboard strokes filled the radio channel,"There! Middleton high needs a substitute physics teacher."

"Out of question, Wiz-girl." the soldier waved off the offer,"I've got two teens to guard already. I'm not getting into contact with more of them. What's the alternative?"

"Ummm... Lunchlady?" Kim Lin scoffed. She recieved no response,"Dex? You there?"

"Sorry." the soldier said after a while,"I was just trying to imagine myself in a hair-net."

"Hey! I've got it! Listen!"

"All ears." sighed the soldier.

"Maintenance/Hygiene technician wanted." Kim read aloud.

"Janitor?" Dex rose his eyebrow.

"Yep."

"I'll take it." he sighed in defeat,"Still beats teaching, though."

"I'll mail them your CV." the girl nodded," What name would you like?"

"Nick Saint."

"Ha!" Kim laughed,"Maybe you should stick to stealth camouflage?"

"Look up a phone-book. It'll crack you up."

"Don't worry. I've got plenty to read." the girl retorted,"Your docs and equipment will be air-dropped near the school at these coordinates."

Dex heard a silent beep and the data appeared on the screen of his PDA.

"Got it." he said, still looking at the coordinates,"Thanks."

"You're welcome, Dex."

"Delta, out."

The soldier slided down the roof of the house and landed in the nearby bushes.

"This mission is getting better and better." he mumbled to himself as he walked out of the foliage,"Not only I have to guard a couple of superhero teens, but I also have to clean after them."

He sighed heavilly.

"A commando janitor." he said to himself,"And I used to wonder how urban myths started."


	11. It begins

Kim opened her eyes. The clock in her bedroom was about to ring. It was Monday.

"Had a good nights sleep?" she heard a voice at the end of her bed.

"Dex?" Kim rose her eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

"You slept on the floor?" she asked with, both guilt and amazement.

"Yeah." the soldier stated simply.

"You actually find that comfortable?" Kim wondered aloud.

"Beats sleeping in a minefield." came the response.

"Like I'm going to believe you slept in a minefield." the girl scoffed.

"In three different minefields, actually." the soldier said ever so calmly," One in Pakistan, near the border with Iran. Another - in Bosnia, on the outskirts of a small village, thirty clicks west of Jublanica, and another one in Chad. Forgot the exact location."

"Weren't you afraid?"

"A little." shrugged the commando.

BEBEBEEP! BEBEBEEP! BEBE- Kim slammed the 'off' button of her alarmclock.

"Hey, Dex, could you..." she heard the door close," Dex?"

Noone responded.

"He sleeps in minefields and reads minds." Kim mumbled,"Should I worry?"

* * *

A shower, breakfast and a drive to school later.

* * *

"Hey, Kimbo!" Ron greeted from afar.

"Hi, Ron." she smiled to him.

"Where's the D-man?" he asked, taking a look around.

"I don't know." Kim shrugged,"He disappeared out of the car the moment we stopped."

"What about Jim and Tim? Didn't they see him?"

"I asked Mom to take them to school today."

"I bet he's here right now, in his super-sneaky, high-tech, stealth thingy." Ron narrowed his eyes,"Watching us."

"Ron - quit the drama. He's not some crazy voyerist who breathes down other peoples necks."

"You're right," Ron became even more tense," He's so good that he doesn't even breathe, because that might give him away."

"Ron!" Kim frowned.

"Sorry."

"Let's get going. We're about to be late."

"The silent watcher." Ron whispered.

"Ughhh! RON!"

* * *

"Tobias Daniel Grimm. A qualified plumber and electrician. Simple computer-working skills." Barkin read the paper aloud," That's quite impressive Mr. Grimm."

"Thank you, sir." Dexter nodded, with a smile.

"It says that you served in the army as an engineer during the war. Earned the rank of sergeant."

"That is correct." nodded the soldier.

"Where were you stationed?"

"Quang-Ling-Pa-Lay base. Fourty two clicks, northwest of the river." poured out the man. He wore a navy coloured cap, sunglases and a thick brown beard.

"Never heard of it." Barkin scowled.

"Never heard of the 'Shovelbacks'? We disarmed more mines and booby traps than any other regiment."

"Oh! Right! The 'Shovelbacks'! How could I NOT know. Heh."

"So, do I get the job?" leaned his head to the right a little.

Barkin stood up. Dexter did the same.

"I welcome you to Middleton high, Sergeant." Barkin said handing the keys to the newly baked janitor,"You may begin immediately."

"Thank you for the oportunity, sir!" Dex shouted and saluted. Barkin saluted back.

"Carry on." Barkin said, letting his hand down. The soldier grabbed the keys, turned on his heel and walked out the door.

"Just like boot-camp." Dex smiled to himself,"Hard-asses all over."

* * *

Meanwhile...

Grand Specter Inc. Penthouse level.

"Have you found it?" asked a man in the chair.

"Yes, sir. We traced the disturbance to a town called Middleton." answered a man, dressed in black.

"Where's that?"

"Between Upperton and Lowerton." specified the black-suit.

"Can you be more accurate?" inquired the man in the chair.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we lost the signal. We are sure that we can track it down if it resurfaces."

"No time. I want you to send the infiltrators to the area."

"Understood, sir."

"I want that technology, Jenkins. You must retrieve it at all costs." hissed the man in the chair," Even if it means killing the host."

"Yes, sir. " nodded the man in black.

"Now leave me."

The man in black silently closed the door behind him.

"At all costs."


	12. Infiltrated

"Hey! Scruffy! I got a piece of trash here for ya!"

"Keep it to yourself, pal!"

Dex slowly rolled the janitors cart down the hall. Period three was over and all the halls were filled with students. Dexter didn't seem too happy about it.

"Hey, Janitor, dude! Someone made a puddle here!" someone shouted.

"Bon apetit, then!" responded the soldier angrily.

"Take a shower, man!" said, yet another, wiseguy.

"In your blood!" Dex growled at him. The kid drew a few steps back.

The soldier looked around.

"What are you, punks, lookin'at? Huh?"

Everyone quickly turned away. Dexter rolled away the cart.

"Nice one, Dex." he complimented himself, quietly,"Cannibal Lector would be proud."

He scanned the corridrors for effective sensor emplacement points as he continued through the school. The soldier parked his cart near the water fountain and walked up to the nearby ventilation cover. Suddenly, racing footsteps were heard and a comet-like silhouette wooshed from around the corner and colided with the janitor cart.

Dex turned towards the cart-jacker who was now lying at the end of the hall with the cart lying on its side nearby.

The commando slowly stood up and began walking down the hall. Everyone in the corridor either ran away or glued themselves to the wall.

"I'm alright! Everything's fine! The Ronster is Ooooookay!" shouted the familiary squeaky voice.

Dex smiled slightly, but quickly regained his stone-cold-killers face as the blonde teen turned to confront him.

"I'm okay. There's nothing to worry about." Ron announced.

"You sure, pal? That was some nasty trip." Dex asked, dropping his angry demenour.

"Relax, man. I'm okay." Ron calmed.

"Can you help me with this?" the janitor pointed down at the cart.

"Sure."

They flipped the cart on it's wheels and put all the stuff back in. Since the expected public murder was called off, the rest of the audience started to scatter.

"Thanks." smiled the soldier,"You sure you're not hurt, Ron?"

"I don't bruise easily." Ron said proudly.

"Rufus, OK?" Dex asked silently, in his normal voice.

"Yeah he's... Hey!" Ron looked at the janitor," Dex?"

The soldier sighed.

"You got me, Hershlock."

* * *

"Ya know, if you needed a job I could've gotten you into 'Bueno Nacho'" Ron shrugged.

"Is it within 200 yards of this place?" Dex pointed at the ceiling.

"Ummm... I'm not sure. No. Probbably not."

The soldier nodded at that.

"What's Kim's next class?" he asked in a tired voice.

"Latin."

"Second floor, hall 'D'." Dex mumbled, pulling out his PDA and marking five spots on the map layout.

"Whoa, cool!" Rons eyes widened,"What's that?"

"Tactical computer." the soldier said, handing it to Ron,"It helps me mannage perimeter sentry devices and works as a multipurpose radio transmitter and receiver."

After an awkward silence he added," Technicaly - it's a thingy."

"Does it have games?" Ron asked the million dollar question.

"Sure." Dex nodded," 'Attack of the dead living III', portable edition, 'Slashy 2.3', and 'Math magic'."

"ATDL 3?" Ron shuddered,"'The Pensioneer menace'?"

"The same."

"Wow... You special forces guys have ALL the tricks!" Ron said, mashing buttons.

This joyful scene was quickly and effectively cut short by the school bell.

"Life is unfair." Ron sighed handing the device back to Dex.

"Tell me about it." sighed the soldier.

"See you later, D-man."

"Later... Ronster." Dex said, giving a free-form salute.

Moments later he was standing all alone in the corridor. Enjoying the silence.

Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.

Dexter quickly pulled up his PDA. It was showing high electronic activity in two completely opposite sectors.

"Two pronged infiltration. Level 1, sector 3 and level 3, sector 1." the soldier read it in an undertone.

"I really hopped they'll wait a day or two. Let me breathe some civvie air... Guess it's time to bring out Little Baby Shotgun Junior for a day in the park." he sighed, grabbing a short-barrled shotgun from his cart. He reached deeper into the cart and pulled out a handfull of yellow shotgun shells, labeled 'EMP' and loaded them into the gun.

"Oh well." the commando whispered silently,"Let the good times roll..."

* * *

Authors note: Sorry for the wait (if someone actually waited for THIS). I was out-o-town for a while so I couldn't write anything up. Anyways. Read, enjoy and luck in life!


	13. Monolith

"Like, what is that?" Bonnie pointed at the puffy ring on her red-haired nemesis' leg,"Another one of those space adventure trophies?"

Kim frowned.

"Right. Space adventures." she rolled her eyes around.

"Where did you get that awful thing, anyway?" Bonnie asked, keeping her eyes on the strange, white ring.

"Classified." Kim grinned.

"Looks like a police locator bracelet."

"So NOT the locator bracelet." hissed the red-head.

"Oh yeah? Then what is it?"

"It's a... It..." Kim bit her lip as she tried to think of something to say,"The latest 'Monoliton' bracelet."

"Monoliton?" Bonnie rose her eyebrow.

"You've never heard of 'Monoliton'?" Kim asked, with pretended surprise,"You should get out more often."

"Kim, is there something you want to share with us?" the teacher turned to the teen.

"Like that white thing on your leg?" Bonnie taunted.

Kim's face colour almost blended with her hair.

"That is a very interesting accessory, Kim. Of monolithic design, it seems."

The girl nodded.

"I see. As a matter of fact - The word 'Monolith' derives from the Latin word 'monolithus'," the teacher kept on rambling as she walked back to her desk and proceeded to write on the blackboard,"From the Greek word 'monolithos_'_, derived from 'one' or 'single' and 'stone'."

Bonnie gritted her teeth at her unsuccessful attempt, bringin a smile to her rivals face.

_Beep! Beep! Be-Beep!_

Kim snatched the communicator out of her pocket and ran out of the class.

"What's the sitch, Wade?"

"It's Drakken. He and Shego stole a shipment of lasers that were headed to the Middleton space center." poured the super-genius.

"Any idea what he's planning to do with them?" Kim wrinkled her brows a little.

"That many lasers can be turned into a vriety of doomsday weapons. I hardly know where to start." Wade shrugged.

"Transportation?"

"Working on it. Will be there, shortly."

"Please and thank you!" beamed the hero-teen and pocketed the device.

She stuck her head inside the class-room.

"Psssst... Ron!" she whispered.

Ron was dozing off behind a pair of 'fake-eye' shades. Naturally, the class had a few talents of it's own, besides the hero-couple. One of the students put his hands over his mouth and cleared his throat.

"Stoppable!" Barkins voice bellowed.

"It wasn't me!" Ron shouted, jumping out of his desk and dropping down on the ground.

"Ron!" Kim knited her hands together.

"Be right with you, KP!"

* * *

Ron knocked on the door. The sign on it read 'Janitor'.

"It's open, Ron." Dexters voice came from behind the door.

"Dex, we have a sitch. Kim told me to get youuuu-what's that thing you're holding?" the teen pointed at a human-like mechanical arm Dex had in his grip.

"Oh, just a little something I dug up in the 'Lost and found'." replied the soldier casualy, placing the metalic limb on a nearby desk,"You said something about Kim wanting you to get me."

"We're going on a mission, so..."

"Gear up and randevous for pick up." the commando ended the sentence,"Got it. I'll be there in three minutes."

Ron nodded his head and ran off.

Dexter stood up from his chair and walked to the end of the room. He pulled off a terpaulin cover and picked up his gear.

The soldier looked at a pair of deactivated dismembered mechanoids, sitting nearby.

"Sorry, guys. Have to go." he sighed,"Apparently there are some people with a plan to take over the world who need stopping."

Dexter peeled off his beared and removed his sunglases to replace them with his mask and goggles.

"God knows why they'd want that." the soldier continued on speaking as he slipped into his camouflage and tactical boots,"If that happened there would be no more funny election speeches, absurd campaign commercials, free thought, wars... That would be terrible."

He put on his tactical vest and backpack and clasped the pistol holster around his thigh.

"Good thing that we have kids like Kim to stop them." Dex said, loading his grenade launcher,"And I'm going to help her."

The soldier picked up the terpaulin and threw it over the carcasses of his mute interlocutors.

"Be back soon. Don't go anywhere."


	14. Eye of the Storm

"It. Is. COMPLETE!" Drakken threw his hands in the air,"At last! My 'Typhoon machine' is ready to be launched!"

"At last! You picked a normal name for it!" Shego waved her hand in the air, parodying the villain," Not some 'Hyper-magic whateveluator'."

"Yes. Well..." the scientist took a breath to process the compliment,"I figured that it would take a substantially lesser amount of time to explain what it does."

"It causes a typhoon?." Shego rose her brow.

"How do you know?" Drakken asked angrily,"Who told you that? Are you spying on me, Shego?"

Shego was about to retort with sarcasm, but quickly realised that the idiocy was simply too thick for even the sharpest wit to cut it.

"I give up." she sighed in defeat.

"That was quick." they heard a voice, too familiar to their ears,"I hoped that you'll make it a little harder than that."

"KIM POSSIBLE!" Drakken shook his fist at the girl who was now roping down from the ceiling.

"Do you HAVE to shout like that?" Shego asked, obviously annoyed.

"YES!!" the scientist shouted back, even louder.

Ron slid down the rappeling line and landed on the floor near Kim. Drakken opened his mouth to say something, but didn't.

"Ron. Ron Stoppable." reminded the guy.

"Ah, yes! Ofcourse!" Drakken smiled,"Welcome to your DOOM!."

Suddenly they noticed a third figure rappeling down through the skylight. He silently placed his feet on the ground and uncliped the line from his belt.

"Who is this?" Drakken inquired.

"Oh, I'm just a spectator. Not getting involved or anything." Dex answered, retreating towards the wall and taking a seat on a nearby box,"Carry on as usual."

Shegos eyes lit up with rage as she remembered the voice of the masked man.

"YOU AGAIN?!" she roared,"What are you doing here?!"

"Just watching this time. Honest."

"He is." Ron approved.

The soldier shrugged.

"Told you."

"So you'll just sit there and watch?" Drakken asked, hadly believing his ears.

"Yep. I'll just stay out of your way." said the soldier as he crossed his arms and leaned back at the wall.

"Really? Good, then!," the blue villain said cheerfuly,"Now where were we?"

"The 'Doom'." Kim fingerquoted.

"Ah, yes! Welcome to your..."

"Let's just get this over with." Shego said in a dead pan tone and jumped forward, hurling green fireballs at the teen duo.

Moments later the whole scene turned into 'Kung-fu in Dodgeville'.

* * *

Dex wasn't very interested in the ongoing battle. Nothing he hadn't seen in a Chunky Han movie. His eyes were on the strange 'doomsday' device in the center of the room.

"Laser induced pressure and heat modulates the targeted air-mass causing it to form a powerful cyclone which starts a typhoon." the soldier mused aloud,"Doesn't explain why it looks like a six-way blender, though."

He raised his foot to dodge one of Shegos energy beams and continued to investigate the strange machine as it neared the end of the countdown.

"Remote controled?"

* * *

"So, Mommy decided to get a baby-sitter for her precious little Princess?" Shego taunted, charging another energy blast.

"He's no baby-sitter." Kim responded, dodging the green bolt,"Well actually he is. Sort of..."

"Sort of?"

"It's a long story." the girl sighed.

"I'm all ears." Shego threw another punch,"And hands."

"I... I can't tell you." Kim shook her head.

"Because of that grenade rack?"

"It's complicated." she said sadly.

"Try me." huffed the villaines as she dropped to a crouch and roundhouse swept Kim off her feet.

"I have what other people want, but can't get from me without killing me."

"So, what's the bad news?" Shego grinned, but soon her smile faded.

Kim's eyes were filled with blue, electric light. Her opponent stepped back.

Uppon witnessing her adversaries terrified expression Kim looked down at her hands. It seemed that her arterries were glowing with the same mysterious light Shego saw in her eyes. She quickly turned towards the soldier.

"Dex! What is happening to me?"

The soldier kicked off from his comfy seat and ran up to her.

_"Authorization confirmed. System activated." _Kims own voice said through the wall mounted speakers as the 'Typhoon machine' began to turn,_"Coordinates selected: Ground Zero. Initiating sequence."_

The machine started to hum as a beam of bright light shot into the air. A cone of wind formed around the island at a moments notice.

"What? I didn't tell you to do that!" Drakken shouted at his remote control.

"It's not the machine." Dexter tried to explain,"It's Kim."

"I'm not doing anything!" she shouted in his face, tears rolling down her cheeks.

The commando took her face into his hands.

"Listen, Kim! Listen to me! Try to calm yourself!"

Ron peaked outside, through the nearby window. Large waves were lashing at the rocks. Growing by the second.

"Somebody do something before this thing gets into spin cycle!" he shouted.

"Can't we just blow the damn thing up?" Shego asked the soldier.

"We need to create an anti-cyclone first or this island will become the REAL Atlantis."

"The controls are not responding!" Drakken announced,"I'm getting out of here!"

Shego caught up to him and blocked his exit.

"Not until you fix this!" she shouted, turning him around and kicking him forward.

Kim was kneeling on the floor. Trying to stop it... that... herself... With all her might. Nothing helped. The waves were getting bigger and bigger.

Dexter casted his look down.

"God damn it." he cursed silently,"RON!!"

"Yeah?"

"Get over here!" the soldier commanded. Ron quickly ran up to them,"I'll need you to carry her."

Ron looked down at Kim and then back at Dex.

"Sure."

Dexter looked Kim in the eyes.

"You're going to hate me for this." he smiled warmly," But just for a second."

A silhouette of an EMP grenade swooshed past her eye. Suddenly she felt a cold, stinging wave wash over her body.

Fears and worries. Feelings and senses. It seemed like everything was washed away with it.

There was only silence. Like she never heard before.

* * *

Authors note: This chapter is a little schizophrenic. I'm not sure what to say about it. Maybe you can?

P.S.: Beware. The next chapter might contain a drastic amount of philosphic bullshit.


	15. A two way monologue

Kim felt wind brush past her face. Her left eye shot open. There was grass in front of her and a couple of worn benches by the nearby path. She carefully moved her hand onto the path concrete and brushed her gloved fingers against the tiles.

The girl turned on her back and jumped on her feet.

Kim turned right and left, looking around. The pathway, the benches, the trees, the pond. It seemed that she was in the middle of...

"Middleton park?"

"No." Kim heard her own voice behind her back,"Just your memory of it."

The girl spun on her heel and almost smacked faces with... herself.

"Gah!" she bounced back in shock.

"We are sorry to firghten you. We assumed that your body will be the most acceptable..." poured the twin.

"We?" Kim asked, confused.

"Yes." nodded the copy.

"Who's 'we'?"

"We. You."

"What do you mean 'We. You'?" Kim shook her head trying to make some sense of the words,"You can't be me! I'm me!"

"Our systems are integrated. We are now a part of you as you are a part of us." explained the clone.

"The nano-bots?" Kim thought aloud.

"Their consciousness - yes." a hint of a smile appeared on the twins face.

Kim cautiously approached the being and stretched her hand to touch it's shoulder. The twin did the same.

"Wow. This is some realistic dream." Kim smiled nervously.

"Actually, this is a program, that mimics your memories and converts it to graphics. Not a dream."

"So it's... like a video game?" Kim asked, letting go of her copy.

"A virtual reality - yes."

"Spanking." the teen smiled with amazement.

"We are glad that you like it." the twin smiled back," We belived this to be the perfect setting for a conversation."

"Conversation?" the girl noded,"OK. Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"Let us take a seat." the being motioned it's hand towards the nearby benches. They both sat down.

"I must speak to you, about your guardians."

"Guardians?"

"The faceless and the blonde one." explained the twin.

"Dexter and Ron."

"Yes."

"What about them?" Kim wrinkled her brows.

"They see us as a threat, but they do not know that we mean no harm." sadness reflected off it's face as it spoke.

"No harm? You almost wiped out Drakkens island with a title wave." Kim frowned, raising her voice a little," I'm not even sure if we survived."

"After the electronic activity control unit ceased function, we began integrating our systems, temporarily turning your body into a super-conductive antenna. The malfunction of the machine was a result of random data streams transmited into it's system during the operation." the entity explained.

"So you were trying to take over my body?" Kims frown returned.

"Take over - no. We were trying to fuse our systems into yours to increase compatibility and functionality."

"Why?" the teen glared angrily at her own face,"What are you trying to do to me?"

"We are not trying to affect you. We want to study you. Your inner workings. We want to become like you."

"You want to replicate me?"

"Only your basic systems. From then on we take our own path. Make our own choices."

Kims face loosened up. The hostile glare faded from her eyes.

"You want to become a real person?"

"Person. Yes."

The teenager casted her look down for a few seconds.

"OK. I'll tell them that you mean no harm."

"We are glad that you understand." smiled the twin,"Under our calculations: Full body infusion would take twelve hours, twenty seven minutes and nineteen seconds to complete. If you would be able to take the electronic activity control unit off for at least three hours, six minutes and fourty seven seconds a day, the infusion would be complete in aproximately four days time."

"What if I let you complete the infusion in one go?" Kim inquired.

"There is a high possibility of dammaging your systems. We advise against it."

"Okay..."

They sat silent for a while.

"You know..." Kim rolled her eyes around,"If you want to become a real person you should probabbly start by thinking yourself a name?"

"Name? Like Dexter and Ron?" asked the twin.

"No! No!" Kim shook her had, waving her hands aside,"Those are boy names. You're a girl."

"We found hundreds of girl names in your memory." smiled the entity, but her smile faded quickly,"But we do not know which is right to pick."

"There aren't any right names. Just pick the one you want." shrugged the teenager.

"We are yet incapable of desire. It is not possible for us to want."

Kim looked up at the sky.

"Alright." she said, keeping her gaze on the computer-made clouds," First thing's first. A person should call oneself 'I' not 'We'."

"Ackgnowledged." nodded the twin.

"Secondly..." Kim bit her lip,"What would be a good name for the worlds first thinking electronic entity?"

"I dunno." she heard a mumble.

Kim glanced back at her clone. It's lower lip was concealed beneath a row of pearl white teeth. Kim snorted.

"Don't do that."

"Haw do-oo 'ean?"

"That." the girl quickly swallowed her lip and let it pop back out of her mouth,"Just bite it on the corner. And softly."

Kim demonstrated and the being quickly copied her expression. They sat there bitting their lips for a few seconds.

"Prima!" shouted the teen cheerfuly, pointing at her reflection,"'The first' in latin - Prima. That could be your name."

"Prima." repeated the being,"Yes. My name is Prima."

"Then it's settled." Kim smiled extending her hand towards her twin. Prima did the same.

"Nice to meet you, Prima. I'm Kim Possible."

They shook hands.

"You can call me Kim."

Prima looked at their joined hands.

"This is shaking hands." she said, looking up at Kim,"It is both a greeting gesture and a sign of trust."

They let go of each other and leaned back. Prima kept looking at her hand, then slowly turned to Kim.

"Does this mean that..."

She froze.

"Means what?" asked the teen, but Prima didn't say a word,"He-ey! Prima?"

Kim waved her hand in front of Primas face. That brought no effect.

Suddenly the sky began to fall apart, so did the ground. The pathway, the trees, the pond. Soon the only thing left was the bench and the two girls sitting on it.

"Prima?" Kim wanted to ask, but her voice was silent. The bench and the girl on it crumbled to pieces. Everything went dark.

* * *

Kim woke up on a medical bed. The smell of amonia and a bright flourescent light hanging from the ceiling suggested that she was in some sort of medical facility. She felt the steps of four small paws on her head and a moment later Rufus' shilouette shadowed over her face.

"Kim! Bhoo-ya!" he squeaked joyfully.

"Hey, Rufus." she waved to the pin critterm,"Are Dexter and Ron around?"

"Nope." someone said from behind a medical curtain,"They moseyed down to the mess hall to hunt down some chow."

The curtain slid aside and in walked a man with a pilot jacket and a flight suit on. His eyes were covered by aviator style glasses and his head bore a navy blue sun-cap with grey hair sticking from underneath. From the looks of it - he hadn't seen a razor in quite some time.

"Here's a nice warm cup-o-coffee for our young Pandora." he smiled, handing her a mug of brown liquid,"Figured you wouldn't drink it raw so I poured some milk and sugar in it. Tell me if it tastes right."

"Ummm... Thanks." Kim smiled nervously, snaring her finger around the warm cup.

"I'd give you a cookie, but your little friend munched up every last one of them." shrugged the pilot.

"Mhhh... Sorry." Rufus mumbled.

"Say... You're Nana's grandkid, ain't that right?" inquired the man.

"Mhm." the girl mumbled after swallowing a mouthful of coffee.

"Next time you see her, tell her 'Rock-drop' Mack sends her regards."

Kim nodded silently while gulping down the last drops of coffee.

"Needs more sugar." she said, setting the empty cup on a nearby tray and picking up Rufus.

"You should've tried dippin' your finger in it." Mack chuckled as she made her way to the door.

"Ummm... Which way to the mess hall?" Kim turned back to the pilot.

"Go right, down the hall, then again - right, then left and keep going till you run into some hungry-lookin' types. That should be it." the man explained, waving his half empty cup around.

"Thank you!" she beamed and rocketed through the door.

"Hey, kid!" the pilot shouted. Kim stuck her head back in,"Welcome to Hellbroom."


	16. Revelations

Dexter knocked on the door. A moment later he heard someone knock back.

The soldier nodded and walked in and saluted the man behind the desk.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked, lowering his hand.

"Yes." the Colonel stated simply,"Take a seat, Major."

Dexter complied.

"It seems that there's been an incident, as I understand."

"Yes, sir." Dex nodded,"During a battle between the subject and the hostile element, the EACU bracelet was dammaged. Nano-bots went active and all electronic devices within range were scrambled. I had to deploy an EMP charge to be able to subdue the nanites, in order to get through to 99-Bravo."

"And the island?"

"We mannaged to save the island by modulating the resident air-mass into a neutral one. I proceeded to destroy the weather device afterwards. 99-Bravo arrived seconds later to extract us out of the tower."

"Outstanding, Major. I am glad that your decissions were not overshadowed by morality speculations as last time."

Dexters right eye twitched, but his goggles hid it away.

"By the way, I was informed that Miss Possible is currently resting in our base."

"Actually,sir, she has already recovered." said the soldier.

"What? When?" the Colonel rose his eyebrow.

"Nine minutes ago. She said that she was contacted by the consciousness of the nano-bots." Dexter leaned forward in his chair,"Sir, what the hell are they?"

The man behind the desk blew a mouthfull of air into his fist.

"Sir." the commando said silently,"I understand that this is confidential, but if I won't have full understanding of their capabilities, I will not be able to safeguard the subject effectively."

The Colonel shook his head.

"Alright, Major." he sighed in defeat,"But this is for your and her ears only..."

* * *

"Whoa." Tech Sergeant Lin whispered with amazement, slowly shaking her head.

"So what is it exactly?" Kim asked, placing a half-drunk soda can on the table.

"Whoa." Lin seemed to ignore her.

"Lin?"

"Whoa."

"LIN!"

The shout snapped the computer-wiz out of her trance.

"Wha?" Kim Lin turned to the red-head.

"The AI. In my head. Prima. What is it?"

The sergeant looked down at the table counter.

"If everything you said is true, then... I don't know what it is."

She looked back up at Kim and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"I'd say it's an AI, but it wouldn't be exactly true. AI's are sophisticated programs, no doubt in that, but they are not capable of human thought."

"And Prima is?" The red-head asked, after taking a sip of soda.

"Not yet." Lin shook her head,"But when fused with you mind and body - it might be."

"Might?"

"I'd say 'in theory', but it's so advanced that no theory exists. Only a concept. An idea."

Kim slurped her soda.

"I can't believe it!" Ron dropped down on the bench, putting his tray in front of him,"Soldiers get better food than we do!"

"You'd think so, but you'd be wrong." the sergeant shook her head.

"Oh yeah?" the blonde teen picked up a piece of chicken with his fork,"This guy behind the counter gave me a plate of spiced chicken with lemon and appologized to me because it was, direct quote: Nothing fancy. End quote."

"Oh, that's just 'Ratman' Rome." Lin waved her hand aside,"He likes cooking for a pass-time activity. Though a dish this simple ussualy means a rainy day in the fridge."

"You're just trying to depress me, aren't you?" Ron frowned.

"Why do they call him 'Ratman'?" Kim inquired while sipping soda.

"Because he can catch a rat, cook it, serve it and you'll love eating it."

Kim blew her soda out on the floor.

"What?"

"I'm telling you - he's that good."

"Don't say that!" Ron pointed,"Now look what you've done!"

He pointed at a huge lump, trembling beneath the table blanket.

"Relax, little guy. Rome only cooks the big ones." calmed the sergeant.

Rufus shyly stuck his head from beneath the blanket.

"So he's a commando like Dexter?" Kim asked.

"Sure is." Lin nodded,"Jungle and guerilla warfare specialist, if you want to get technical. Has a tendency to swear a lot, though."

_"I heard that ya rubber-tongued, button-mashing, bag of hemorrhoids!" _they heard Rome shout from behind the counter._  
_

"Choke on a dictionary, you swamp-faced, pompous, silk-gut!" Kim Lin shouted back loudly, shaking her fist in the air.

_"Aye! Good one, lass!"_ Rome laughed as he disappeared behind the kitchen door.

"That's Rome for ya." Lin chuckled.

"Back to the topic." Kim said, throwing the empty soda can into the nearby bin,"Nano-bots. What will they do to me?"

"Can't say for sure, but you're already able to channel internet traffic through your body. Additional abillities should become available as the infusion progresses."

"So KP's going to get super-powers?" Ron mumbled while stuffing his face with chicken,"Super-strength, super-speed, super..."

"Chew your food, Ron." Kim nudged him in the ribs.

"Who knows." shrugged the sergeant,"Could all of the above and more or none at all."

"As long as I don't turn green or grow a pair of antennas, everything's OK."

"Sure. If we forget the fact that you have a potential human consciousness growing inside your own brain and the constant danger of someone kidnapping you and sucking the living out of you - you're all hunky dory." Kim Lin beamed.

"Thanks, Lin." frowned the red-head," That was very helpful."

"I just don't want you to let your guard down. Thinking that it's easy to live with two personalities in your head won't help you. You need dedication, not optimism."

"Well, that's a good advice." Kim brigthened up a little,"I guess."

"Think of it as a kind of motherhood."

"WHAT?" shouted the teen.

"Maybe that was a bit too harsh." grinned the sergeant,"Sorry."

"He-he-heeeeelp." Ron turned to Kim, his face colour balancing between Drakken blue and sunset red.

"Ron, I told you to chew your food." the teen wound up her arm and slapped him on the back, causing the bite to launch from Ron's mouth and into a paper napkin Lin held up in front of him.

"Bullseye!" the sergeant shouted joyfully, throwing the piece of paper into the bin,"Double bullseye."

"Awww! Don't do that! It was still good eating!" Ron cried.

The girls gave him an angry look.

"Well, it was!"

Lin threw a questioning look at the red-head across the table.

"Don't ask."Kim sighed,"I'm still trying to figure out how Dexter and Ron were able to become friends."

"We think alike." Ron said casually, with a shrugg.

"Doubtful." Lin smirked.

"He's a little bit of a loner." Kim stated with a hint of sadness.

"Dex?" Lin rolled her eyes around,"Mmmm-yeah, kind of. He doesn't like to get attached to people, but he befriends them quickly."

"He doesn't have a lot of friends, does he?"

"No." the sergeant shook her head,"He doesn't have any."

"Any?" Ron and Kim asked in a chorus.

"Not outside the base. No."

"Why?" the red-head teen asked.

"He was always like that." Lin leaned forward a little,"His parent's were killed when he was quite young. Dexters mother died when he was eight. She was a humanitary relief medic. Flew out to Africa and her plane got shot down by some trigger-happy tribals with SAM launchers."

"And his father?"

"His dad was an U.S. Army Major. After his mother died, he took Dexter with him. They had to move from one base to another. But, Dexter wasn't an average army brat. He was interested in the military. His father saw potential in him and began training him to be a soldier. Unfortunately, he got killed in action when Dex was thirteen years old."

"Dexter was trained to be a soldier since he was eight?" Kim asked, both shocked and amazed.

"Yep." Lin nodded,"Anyway. Since the army didn't want him to end up in an orphanage, and couldn't trace his family, they decided to take Dexter under their wing. He continued training and by the age of sixteen, he knew more than an average special forces soldier. After three years with the Army Rangers as a Sapper, he got recruited into Black Ops."

"So he never went to school?" Ron rose his eyebrow.

"No school, no classes, no prom. Whatever a regular teenager lives through is completely foreign to Dexter."

"It's hard to believe it. I mean he seems well-educated and well-spoken too." Kim mused loudly.

"Dexter likes to read books. A lot." Lin smiled,"If he's not on a mission or shooting up the range, he's definately lying on his bunk, punching through books. I wouldn't be surprised if he's better read than most of the straight 'A' college students."

"His life sounds pretty dull."

"Far from it. He's seen more action than most veteran operatives. And if you're thinking that he's dull because he reads books - Dex can hatch up a story from thin air within seconds and can tell it with such detail you'll dream about it afterwards."

"Yet his social life is..." the read-head started carefuly.

"Non existent." the sergeant cut her off.

Silence decked the table for a minute.

"Dexter is a good soldier." Lin looked Kim right in the eyes,"If your life or well-being is threatened while you're under his watch, no force, on earth and beyond, will be able to stop him from eliminating this threat."

Kim nodded.

_"Hey! Kim! Ron!"_ they heard Dexters voice from afar,_"Get down to the hangar! We're blading out!"_

"Coming!" Kim shouted back.

"Remember." Lin said with a serious tone,"Don't let your guard down."

"I will. Thanks, Kim." they shook hands.

"You're welcome, Kim." smiled the sergeant.

_"Come on, KP! If we're lucky we'll be able to catch the last rounds on GWA: Whackdown!"_

"Sounds like an emergency." Lin smirked," You should roll."

Kim smiled, then turned on her heel and kicked off towards the exit.


	17. Brace yourself

The man sat behind the table, drilling his subordinate with his sinister look.

"Both of them?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"How?"

The man shrugged.

"Tell me, Jenkins." hissed the boss,"How is it possible that our drones mannaged to infiltrate the police precicnt, the city hall, and the local military base..."

Jenkins felt himself shrink in the eyes of the evil man.

"... But weren't able to infiltrate a school?"

"Actually, it's a high-school."

"Oh!" the man said with pretended surprise,"That changes everything then..."

"It does?"

"NO!" shouted the boss,"I want those nano-bots and I don't care in what hell-hole they sit! Stop at nothing to aquire them for me! Do you understand?"

"Yes.."

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" now he was simply roaring at the man in the black suit.

"Yes,sir! Perfectly, sir!" Jenkins shouted, tensing his back.

"I want you to put that school under a microscope!"

"We have already dispatched another pair of recon-drones to the area. Their report should be available shortly..."

Jenkins felt the phone vibrate and quickly snatched it out of his pocket.

"Jenkins." he said as he fliped it open and pressed the microphone to his cheek,"Mhm. Mhm. Right."

The blacksuit closed the lid of his phone and turned to his superior.

"Sir, we may have a problem..."

* * *

"Does this happen often?" Dexter mumbled through his fake beard.

"From time to time. Yeah." Ron nodded.

"Really? Then, why the hell is she so shocked?" the commando-janitor motioned his head towards Kim who was standing nearby, with her mouth agape.

"Beats me." shrugged the blonde teen.

A bunch of schoolgirls walked by, wearing white puffy monolith-styled bracelets. Like the one Kim wore, and now - the whole school.

"Guess 'individuality' is a few letters too long to be a popular word here." Dex shook his head sadly.

"Kim!" someone shouted from the crowd. To those who know her, her name's Monique,"Hey? Why is she starin' like that?"

"She's practicing her 'thousand yard' stare." the janitor explained.

"And you are?" the girl inquired.

"The Janitor." Dexter smiled,"Also known as 'The hall monster'."

"Ain't that a fact?" Monique rose her eyebrow,"Hey, Kim, snap out of it, will you?"

"Ugh-Huh?" the red-haired girl shook her head,"What happened?"

"You walked into school, saw all the white leg-thingies and then," Ron opened his mouth, hung his hands and widened his eyes," And continued to do so for the next three minutes. That's pretty much it."

"Where did all these bracelets come from, anyway?"

"Oh, yeah, about that..." Monique frowned,"Someone saw Bonnie buy one, yesterday, then the cheerleading team bought them, then..."

"The snowball effect." Kim sighed.

"Don't sweat it, girl." her friend calmed,"It's all gonna fade away before the next week hits. These kind of things never hold. You know that."

The school-bell echoed in the coridors announcing the beginning of the next period.

"Guess you should go." Dex pulled out his PDA and clicked a few buttons.

"Catch you later, D-man." Ron threw up his hand in the air as he turned to walk.

"Later," Kim smiled,"D-man."

"Who is this guy?" Monique asked as Kim dragged towards their class. She watched the janitor as he pulled out something from the cart, rolled up in a towel and pocket a handfull of small yellow tubes.

"I'm not sure." Ron shrugged," But I heard he's from... Uhhh... Lithuania..."


	18. Mr Sandman

"Maybe I should let them stay in school?" Dex mused silently,"Maybe they'll learn something?"

The avatar moved slowly across the small screen of the tactical computer. He followed it with his eyes as it took a turn around the corner and was now coming his way.

"Who am I kidding?" sighed the soldier,"If it didn't work for most of the kids here - bots don't stand a chance."

The soldier cocked his shotgun, chambering the slug and quickly wrapped it back into the towel.

The mech walked past him. You could hardly tell there was a robot underneath all the fake skin and dark clothes.

"A goth chick. How original." smiled the soldier stepping out of the corner.

"Hey!" he shouted loudly,"You pick that up!"

The mechanoid froze on the spot. It slowly turned around to face Dex.

"You ain't gonna go runnin' 'round throwing stuff on the floor on my watch, Missy." mumbled the janitor, making his way towards the drone,"You pick that up, now!"

The robot looked at the ground, but couldn't find anything to pick up.

"That's right! Look here! Right there! See?" Dex pointed his left hand at the ground. He heard the faint sound of buzzing as the robot zoomed it's cameras trying to make out something he was supposed to see.

The soldier pulled the end of the towel unfurling it in the air and caught the shotgun by the handle as it fell.

The robot felt the barrel of the shotgun lodge in it's shoulder. Dexter pulled the trigger and an audible thud echoed in the hallway. The drone dropped to the ground.

"At least these bots have a light frame." the soldier wishpered to himself as he picked up the mechanoid and threw it over his shoulder," I'd hate to strain my back by dragging their high-tech butts around the damn place."

* * *

_"Sir, we just lost 3-9-0."_ a voice reported through the radio comm.

"Good." came the response.

_"Good, sir?"_

"They took the bait." you could almost hear the evil smile in his words,"Activate the beacon."

_"Yes, sir. 'Go active' has been sent. We have a signal, sir. It's moving."_

"Release," he made a pause,"'The Sandman'."

The back of the truck opened up and a skeleton-like droid zoomed out from within. It quickly made it's way through the foliage and disappeared in thin air.

_"Active stealth - initiated."_

* * *

"Make room for the new-guy." Dex wheezed as he threw the robot of his shoulders.

He dragged it up to the wall and leaned it against it's deactivated counterparts.

"If this continues - this school's going to turn into a scrap-yard." sighed the soldier as he threw another piece of terpaulin over the robot.

Dexter hummed, looking down at the ground.

"Coffee." he nodded, then turned on his heel and took off to the door.

"Care-ful." Dex whispered, as he stepped over a trip-wire.

The soldier swept a biege mug off his desk and walked out, closing the door behind him.

* * *

_"Sandman has infiltrated the school, sir. Orders?"_

"Activate 'search and destroy' protocols."

_"Understood, sir. Active protocols have been altered to 'search and destroy'."_

* * *

Dex poured some coffee from the jug of the teachers lounge coffee machine and took a whiff of it's delightful aroma.

"Aaaaaah..." he breathed his lungs out,"Strong enough to wake a dead man."

* * *

_"Signal lock is acquired and in kill range."_

"Send the 'Go'."

_"Aye,sir."_

* * *

Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick

Dexter pulled away the mug from his lips and quickly brought up the tactical computer.

"This isn't good."

* * *

A long metalic arm quickly grabbed the terpaulin and pulled it down revealing a trio of deactivated recon carefully examined it's fallen comrades, then walked up to another terpaulin covered object.

The robot quickly snatched the cover away. There was a stockpile of explosives underneath.

Sandman took a few steps back.

"You're smart." someone said from behind. The robot rotated it's head by 180 degrees.

Dexter cocked the shotgun.

"Stay that way." he said, taking two steps towards the bot.

Dex scanned the robot with his eyes. He has seen a lot of different mechs, but nothing like this.

"Ultra-light balistic plastic skeleton-frame. Too small to hide, both, energy and conventional weapons. Mirror camouflage with counter electronics. No blades visible." the soldier listed all the qualities he saw in the machine.

"Saaaand... maaaan." wheezed the robot. Dex tightened his grip on the shotgun.

"Sandman?" asked the soldier silently,"What the..."

"Saaaandmaaan." repeated the machine as it's torso turned around, to face the commando.

"Wait a sec."

"Saaaaaaandmaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" the robot hissed. It's palms folded back and small needles appeared from it's wrists.

"Oh." Dexter nodded,"That explains a thing or two."

"Sleeeeeeeeeep." wheezed the droid throwing a quick punch towards the soldier.

Dex bounced back and fired off a shot from his weapon. A silent thunk was heard as the low pressure slug hit the chest of the mechanic monstrosity, but caused no effect. The commando chambered another slug and pulled the trigger, but the result was the same.

"EMP shielding." grunted the soldier.

"Sleeeeeep!" hissed the machine, turning to the commando.

"How about a pillow fight?" Dexter beamed.

"Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep!" the droid wailed, charging at the soldier. Dex doged left and roled back on his feet.

"Guess he's not in the mood." shrugged the commando, rocketing through the door.

Sandman jumped out of the room and clinged onto the wall.

"You've got to be kidding me." Dex mumbled grimmly as he watched the robot proceed to climb up and onto the ceiling.

Dexter turned on his heel and kicked off towards the end of the hall. Sandman was close by.

The janitor caught onto the corner and swinged around to maintain speed, almost knocking a kid off his feet in the process.

"Hey! Watch it, Doofus!" shouted the youngster.

Dex looked around, then turned back at the kid.

"Hold this." he said, handing his shotgun to junior.

"Whoa! Is this a real..."

"Duck!"

The kid quickly dropped to the ground as a bright-red fire extinguisher collided with something that came from around the corner.

He watched as the janitor walked past him. The bearded man smiled as he stepped on both hands of the mechanoid.

"Have a cold one, buddy." he gritted through his teeth, opening up a stream of nitrogen on the robot.

The kid watched as the man winded up the extinguisher like a golf player and decapitated the machine with a clean swipe.

"Hoo-shaaaa..." whispered the youngster. His limbs still frozen in shock and awe.

Dexter walked up to the youngster.

"Name?"

"Huh?" the kid shook his head snapping out of the trance.

"What's your name, kid?" the soldier asked, taking the shotgun from him.

"Um-uh... Jim. Jim Possible."

"Possible. Great." Dex ended the sentence,"Listen..."

Jim sat completely still, fearing to draw a breath.

"I don't suppose that I can convince you that this was just a play of your overclocked, videogame-rotted imagination, so let me cut you a deal: If you keep your mouth shut, don't ask any questions and forget about this little incident, I'm going to give you something cool in return." Dexter looked the Jim right in the eyes,"Deal?"

The kid slowly nodded.

"Great." smiled the soldier, helping the youngster up off the floor,"But tell noone. Now, get the hell out of here."

Jim turned around and started walking away.

"Hey!" the soldier called, the kid froze,"If you REALLY want to tell your brother, make sure he doesn't tell anyone. Okay?"

Jims eyes widened. He slowly nodded, fearing to face the strange man. The boy picked up the pace. When he was at the corner of the corridor, he turned around. The corridor was empty. The kid sighed.

"Man, I really wish I had an overclocked, videogame-rotten imagination right now..."

* * *

Dexter took a sip of coffee from his mug.

"Aaaaaah..." he sighed,"The legths a man has to go through for a taste of this..."

He took a big gulp.

"Totally worth it." Dex smiled, leaning against the wall.

The bell squealed, sending waves of students flooding into the schools corridors.

Not long after that a couple of familiar faces flickered in the crowd and quickly made their way to the janitors cart.

"Enjoying the morning, I see." Kim smiled at the soldier.

"You could say that." Dex shrugged,"How's math?"

"Boring squared." replied the red-head,"Ron mannaged to fall asleep and drool all over his homework."

"Only half of it." Ron folded his hands in defense.

"You only did half of your homework, so it counts as a whole." Kim frowned.

"Please, no more math-talk after math." Ron waved his hands aside.

The soldier smiled at the two.

"So," the girl asked, looking at Dexters strange smile,"How's your morning going?"

"Pretty quiet, I'd say." nodded the commando,"Though I heard that there was some car accident half-a-click south of here. A truck mowed down five trees and exploded."

"I told you that wasn't my stomach." Ron threw an angry glance at the red-head.

"I hope noone got hurt." Kim shuddered.

"No bodies were found, so I think it's safe to say that there were no cassualties."

"How do you..."

"Heard it on the radio." Dex explained, before Kim could finish her question.

"It's still hard for me to believe that a truck could pick up enough speed to mow down five trees by accident." she rose her brow at the fact.

"When people drive like they've lost their heads - anything can happen." smirked the soldier,"I bet it was just some tired trucker who fell asleep behind the wheel."

"That sounds plausible." Kim shrugged,"I guess."

"Ya know, there's a saying: 'Nothing should interupt a mans coffee break'."

"What does that have to do with the accident?" the red-head gave him a suspicious glance.

"Nothing." Dex smiled, finishing his coffee and placing the mug on his cart,"Nothing at all..."


	19. Spies and Soldiers

"Twelve twenty-two." Kim sighed, watching the digits change on her alarmclock.

It was wednesday already and she was still awake.

"Dexter?" the girl called silently.

"Mhm." came the mumble from the end of her bed.

"You're not asleep?"

"Not anymore." answered the soldier, with a suppresed yawn.

"Sorry." Kim mumbled.

"No bad. I was just drowsing."

"With your eyes open?"

"That's just a myth." smiled the soldier.

"What?"

"Sleeping with your eyes open will cause them to dry up."Dexter moved his stiff shoulders around,"Special forces soldiers don't sleep with their eyes open. It's just a myth."

Kim snuggled into her pillow.

"Anything else?" inquired the soldier.

"No. It's just that this day was..." she paused, looking for the right words.

"Too quiet."

"Yes." the pillow-case rustled as she nodded her head. Somehow, Kim already got used to Dexter ending her thoughts."And it's not because this was a villain-fighting free day.I have lots of those, but it's never been so strangely calm. Even the Tweebs seemed calmer today."

"Tweebs?"

"My brothers. Jim and Tim. Twin dweebs. Tweebs for short. You've seen them." she said, smiling a little.

"I heard them too. They sound like a drugged-up shaman who talks cave draft."

Kim giggled silently.

"You're funny for a commando."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Dex said, with pretended seriousness.

The room fell silent for a moment.

"What's it like?"

"To be a commando?"

Dex heard a familiar rustle.

"In a nuttshell?."

"If you can." Kim smiled.

"Commandos are an exact opposite of what you might see in Wayne Pond movies." the soldier tried to explain,"Spies dress in fancy clothing, drive fast cars and are exceptional conversationalists. Commandos dress in camouflage, stay in the muck, and stick to the shadows, because nobody will believe that you're picking berries if you have a grenade launcher and bodyarmor on."

"Any other differences?"

"Well..." Dexter shrugged,"Spies sleep on beds, commandos sleep on the ground."

"So I'm a spy?" Kim scoffed.

"You could be." nodded the soldier,"Yeah."

"So this means that..."

"You couldn't be a commando."

"You think that I can't take all the muck soldiers do?" Kim frowned a little.

"No. I just think that you don't have the right mind for such a job." Dexter explained.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not the training that makes you a commando. It's the way you think. I've seen you operate and..."

"Ughh... I know, I know. I'm an amateur."

"Like I said: It's not the training that makes you a commando."

"So if Ron is a complete opposite..."

"Ron would be a good commando." the soldier cut her off.

Kim frowned a little, biting her lip.

"To tell you the truth, he could even be great. If he put some effort into it."

"It's kind of hard for me to picture him in bodyarmor and a machinegun, knee deep in mud."

"That's poor imagination right there." Dexter sighed,"You'd be a terrible commando."

"You just thought that up, didn't you?" the girl asked with a bitter tone.

"No. I'm serious. Imagination helps you analize, plan and execute your objectives. Also invaluable in solo operations when you don't have access to any form of entertainment." Dex explained with dead-serious tone,"When you're on a three-day recon solo operation, boredom can kill you as easily as bullets or famine. Trust me. I know what I'm saying."

"I do." Kim muttered,"But I still have a trouble of seeing Ron as a soldier, not to mention - a commando."

"I'm telling ya." Dexter smiled," One day some idiot with an unnatural face colour will step forward saying something like: I have enough toilet-paper to wipe off the entire planet, and there's nothing you can do stop me."

Kim bit into her blanket, just so she wouldn't laugh out loud, but she could hardly contain giggle.

"And Ron will step out the bushes with a shotgun in his hands, saying:Oh yeah, pal? Well, I've got something that will wipe that smile of your stupid ill-coloured face."

That was too much for Kim. She burried her face in her pillow and began lauging her lungs out.

After two minutes of uninterupted laughter she was sound asleep. Dreaming.

Dexter smiled and sighed.

"Laugh, Kim. Laugh." he said yawning,"While it's still a joke."

* * *

AN:Simple, short and somewhat funny. Enjoy.

Luck in life,

FBB


	20. Confrontations

The janitor slowly chewed his sandwich, casting a weary look at the PDA on the table.

"Had trouble sleeping?" Kim Lin asked, playing the keyboard.

"A bit." Dex curved a tired smile,"Guess that's what you get when you kill the 'Sandman'."

"Riiiight." drawled the sergeant.

"Speaking of which..."

"I've analized the scans you sent me, but couldn't find a thing." Lin poured,"From Grand Specter and US Robotics to Halgrax and HenchCo. - not a single part could be traced to any of these companies. We're still checking abroad, though. Might be import goods."

"Goods?" Dexters eyebrow shot over the rim of his sunglasses.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean..." Kim was in the middle of her apology when Dexters computer started to tick.

"Never a dull day."he grunted, throwing the remainder of his sandwich on the plate and was about to stand up from his chair when he suddenly froze.

"This ain't right." he said, picking up the PDA and checking through the readings once again."

"What's happening over there?" Lin's voice came from the speaker.

"Outer perimeter sensors picked up thermal. Looks human." Dexter explained.

"How is that strange?"

"It also has an energy sig."

"A cyborg?"

"No." Dex sighed heavilly,"Worse."

* * *

"You're kidding me?" Monique scoffed at the red-hair.

"No. Really. What do you think?"

"Girl, I'm no specialist, but Ron - a commando?" she paused.

"I know it sounds stupid, but..." Kim sighed.

"I ain't laughin', but straightening Ron up and turning him into a soldier, not to mention, a commando, would take a street roller, filled with lead."

"Harsh." frowned the red-head.

"But true." her friend shrugged the guilty look off of her.

Kim casted her look down.

"Come on, girlfriend, it was all just a dream. Why are you so down about it?"

"I'm not down. I was just wondering." she quickly looked up at her friend.

"You've been acting strange lately and I can tell that something is seriously wrong." Monique looked her right in the eyes,"Now, are you gonna tell me or do I need my interogation lamp?"

"Oooooh..." Kim cried,"I know I shouldn't do this,but... Turn off your cell-phone."

"What?"

"For just a moment."

Monique flipped her cell open and pushed the off button.

"OK. Now what?"

Kim stood still with her eyes closed. Suddenly, her eyes shot open. They were pulsating with electric glow.

"Damn..." Monique whispered with awe. Kim ducked quickly and flicked a small switch on her bracelet.

"Don't. Tell. Anyone."

Monique nodded slowly. The red-head breathed out heavilly.

"Does Ron know?"

Kim nodded.

"Ron and Dexter are the only ones..." she covered her mouth,"Oh, no."

"The janitor?" Moniques lips curved into a smile.

"How did you..."

"D-man." she said slowly,"Don't need an Enigma to decode that one."

Kim smiled, confusion fading from her face.

"So,"Monique rolled her eyes around innocently,"What's his story?"

"Dex is a black ops commando. He was assigned to watch over me since I ate a can of peas which had nano-bots in them. Now I have to wear this bracelet to keep the nanites from disrupting communications and Dexters job is to make sure that I do." Kim shrugged,"Sorry for not telling you earlier."

"That's alright." her friend smiled,"I had my suspicions, but now that I know - everything makes sense."

Monique paused and added.

"Though I have to admit, Ron threw me off for a moment. I really did think this guy was from Lithuania."

* * *

Dexter watched the laser sight dance on the forehead of his prey. His finger resting on the trigger guard.

"It's all fun and games till someone gets shotguned in the face." he said grimmly, placing his finger on the trigger,"Stay still and it'll be fun and games, minus the shotgun."

"Heh," Shego smiled nervously,"Sure. Whatever you say."

"Good." beamed the soldier,"Now, that we've settled this - how may I be of service?"


	21. Shotgun Diplomacy

"Service?" Shego asked with a voice of milk chocolate,"Hmmm... Let's see. How about, for starters - GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!"

She felt the soldier tense his left leg as he shifted his weight of his knee and her stomach. He quickly stood up and took a few paces back.

"Need help?" the commando inquired politely.

Shego leaned forward and jumped on her feet.

"I'll mannage." she spat the words out to the soldier.

The soldier shook his head, then slowly sat down near a tree, resting his back against it's trunk.

"Feel yourself right at home." the commando smiled beneath his mask.

"Home?" Shego took a look around,"Who do you think you are? The spirit of the forest?"

"No. Noooo." drawled the soldier,"I'm the ghost of christmas past. I just vacation here."

"Strange." scoffed the villain sitting down against the tree in front of the soldier, scaning him from head to toe,"You don't look much like a camper."

"So do you." nodded the commando,"Which makes me wonder, what are you doing here?"

"You expect me to tell you that?" she narrowed her eyes. The soldier looked right, then left.

"Nobody seems to be around, so, why not?" he shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"Not gonna happen, Bub." Shego shook her head.

"Because you don't trust me or you simply don't want to admit that you came here to find out what's wrong with Kim, because you actualy care about her?" the soldier poured it out, straight into the flabbergasted face of the green villaines," Which is it?"

"What makes you think that, A: I even consider trusting YOU; and, B: I give a hoot about my arch-foe." Shego counted off her fingers.

"Because, A: I'm not playing your game so there's no reason for you not to trust me, unless your mom told you not to talk to strangers; and, B: It doesn't take a bright head to figure that you two have got more incommon than just green eyes." the commando did the same count. His left hand forefinger and thumb were folded out of the fist.

"Bang." he said, pointing his finger at Shego and pressing his thumb to it, to imitate the hammer of a pistol.

"Alright. Maybe I do care about Kim." she shook her head to the right,"A little."

Her eyes turned back to the soldier.

"But there's no way in hell I'm going to trust someone who doesn't even tell me his name."

"You know my name." sighed the commando," It's Dex. If you remember the episode at Drakkens lab..."

"That was your name?" the green-faced woman raised her eyebrow," I thought she was swearing."

"Does she ever?" asked the soldier.

"Touche." Shego scoffed, striking a finger at the commando. Dex immediately fell on his side and aimed his shogtun. A red dot appeared on Shegos neck.

"Oh! Sorry!" she raised her hands as if surrendering,"Didn't mean to."

The soldier lowered the shotgun and leaned back into his previous pose.

"Those are some quick reflexes you have there." complimented the villain," Special forces?"

"Something like that." answered the soldier casualy,"I remember you running QA for Jack Hench a year back. I saw you fight the TALON A1-5 and XT208. Not everyone can sap two assault bots with direct plasma blasts in such a short time. Very impressive."

"How did you... Wait a sec." Shego closed her eyes for a second, then looked back at the soldier,"Weren't you the reason they put a lockdown on warehouse B?"

Dexter nodded.

"Ha! Warehouse B is on the other side of the complex!" she struck her finger at the soldier, but Dex didn't move a muscle,"You couldn't have seen me in the test-bay!"

"I didn't say I was in the warehouse." Dexter shook his head,"I needed a distraction for my pilot to be able to pick me up from the third courtyard. I spent near half an hour in the vents of C9 waiting for extraction and watching you beat the bolts out of those robots, through a snake cam."

"Third courtyard? Are you mental? Hench has more AA there than Baghdad!" Shegos face turned even more pale.

"I cut power to the air-defences, just before the chopper got in range." Dex thumbed his fist, pretending to push a button on his invisible remote.

"I didn't hear any explosion."

"There wasn't. I melted through the cables with thermites." explained the soldier.

"Heh." the green villain smiled,"I told him that his sentries needed better protection, but did he listen?"

"Noooo." both mooed in a chorus. Shego burst into laughing.

"Ya know, you ain't half as cold as you try to be," Dexter smiled warmly under his mask," so why all the broken glass?"

Shegos face clouded.

"A million reasons."

The soldier nodded his head.

"Maybe later?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"Maybe." Shego sighed casting her eyes down.

"Listen," Dexters voice tone became more serious,"I can't tell you anything about Kims condition, but if you want to help her, there might just be a chance to do that?"

Shego looked up at the soldier.

"Don't worry. This is as unofficial as it gets. The only ones to know will be you and me."

Dexter could tell from her eyes that a major conflict was raging inside her, but it was decision she had to make.

"What would I have to do?"

"I have a memo-stick which contains scans and pictures of a few droids that were sent to spy on the school. And an assassin droid I've dispatched a day back." he took the cover off the memory stick to show her that it's not some kind of a bomb,"I'm asking you to hit some pipes on your side. Maybe someone will cough up a lead."

"Alright." Shego nodded,"I'll ask around."

The soldier nodded and threw the memory stick to her.

"But I don't promise anything." she added, catching it in mid-air.

"You don't need to." Dex shook his head,"I've never made a promise, nor have I asked for one."

"How did you spot me?" Shego aked after a while of silence.

"Seismic sensor activated thermal scanners picked up a heat signal." the soldier explained, tapping on the ground beside him,"E-scans pulled up an unusual energy signature. I knew it was you."

"So, you rigged the whole forest just to make sure noone sneaks behind Princess' back?" Shego taunted,"A little over the top, don't you think?"

"What can I say?" Dexter shrugged,"A super-teen needs super-protection."

"Protection? Protection from what? Breaking a nail?" Shego flexed her forefinger," Got an emergency plan for that, Slick?"

"Nah." the soldier scoffed," Not yet... But I'll think of something."

A familiar ticking sound was heard. Dex raised his left hand in the air, showing there's nothing to worry about. He opened up a pouch on his belt and took out his PDA.

"Guess we'll have to cut this short." he said picking himself up from the ground,"Kims comm frequency went active."

"Meaning?"

"Expect another trip to another castle of another global-domination-minded nut." Dex gave a depressed sigh,"I'd rather bite a handgrenade."

"Tell me about it." Shego rolled her eyes around.

"Maybe next time."

The soldier rummaged through one of his backpack compartments and pulled out a small cylindrical device.

"This is a radio beacon." he said, placing the object in her black gloved hand,"Click it three times and I'll come running."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her on her feet.

"Remember - You weren't here. This conversation never happened." the commando shook his head, then turned on his heel and ran off.

He disappeared between the trees.

Shego uncleanched her fist and looked at the strange small cylinder.

"Wait a minute." she rose her eyebrow," If I'm not here, then where am I?"

She curved a feeline smile.

"Hmmmmmmmmmm-mall..."

* * *

AN: Blackjack! Short story - long: What was supposed to be a time-killing measure on a sleepless, tequila-filled night turned into a 21 chapter nano-bot-stuffed-canned-peas fueled adventure. Hope you're happy, folks!

Luck in life,

FBB


	22. Stellar

The hall echoed from footsteps. Three pairs of feet were quickly pacing through the ill-lit corridor. The two guards that were patrolling it trained their guns on the approaching figures.

"Halt! Who goes there!" one of them shouted out, activating his weapon-mounted flashlight.

The beam of light ripped out a face from the darkness. It was covered by a pair of sunglasses and, though the person wore a navy blue baseball cap, you could clearly see a bright-red ponytail swinging behind her back. She was wearing blue overalls with three small 'R' letters on the right side of her chest.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Kill that light, pal! I'm not some movie-star for you to shine that thing at me!" she said loudly, throwing her hand up to block the light.

"Identify yourself!" the other guard bellowed, tightening his grip on the handle of the gun.

"Rita Raptor Relocators! We're supposed to drop off a package here," she brought a clipboard to her face,"Is Doctor D-mental... Wait... De-men-tor. Doctor Dementor. He here?"

The guards looked at eachother, then back at her.

"Rita Raptor... What?" mumbled one of them.

"Rita Raptor Relocators - We're slick, we're sly, we do or die!" she shouted out,"I'm Rita, in case you're wondering."

The guards stood stupefied.

"Alright." Rita sighed, bringing the clipboard back up,"Someone here, who goes by the name Dementor, ordered a 22 inch concentration lens and an Eagle-AX focusing module."

She bonked her gloved hand at a large wooden box the two men behind her were carrying.

"Ummmm... Uhhh... Ummm... Well... We... Uhhh..." the goons mumbled.

"DOES HE LIVE HERE OR NOT?!" she shouted at them angrilly.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah! He lives here!" the morons nodded.

"Then get those lights out of my face and let me at him!" she thundered, whacking their guns aside.

"We... We can't!" stuttered the guard. The other one slowly raised his gun back up, shining some light on the two men behind her.

"Buddy, you best turn that thing off or I'm going to shove it so far up your throat, that when you take a dump, the loo's going to shine like a disco!" grunted the masked man. The other one had no complaints because his eyes were covered by the visor of his cap.

"Zip it, Rex!" Rita shouted at the masked one,"We're trying to be professional here!"

"Sorry, Red, it's just..." Rex tried to explain. The girl peeked over the rim of her shades and the man fell silent.

She turned back to the guards.

"Turn that off unless you want me to bring some bat-powered sunlight to the dark-side of your moons." she said in a calm but strict tone. The guard complied,"Now let's get some things straight."

She looked at each guard in turn.

"Dementor, who I assume, is your 'Boss', is paying me to get his junk. It takes me time to do it, for which I charge." the red-haed explained patiently,"If you keep holding me here, I'll charge more, which means he'll need to pay more. When he finds why I charged him more..."

The guards gulped.

"Now... Which way to the Boss-man?" she clapped her hands,"Chop-chop!"

"The-There! Over there!" they stuttered, stepping aside and pointing at the end of the corridor,"Down the hall then turn right! You can't miss it!"

"See!" she smiled at the two,"Wasn't hard now, was it?"

Rita walked through, waving her associates to come with her.

"Rex, Don - Hustle!"

"Right, Red." both replied in a tired tone and began shuffling past the guards.

"She's a raptor, alright." mumbled one the goons.

"You should see her on a bad day." huffed the masked one, as they walked by.

The guards watched the trio disappear at the end of the corridor.

"Ya know, Bob, it's chicks like this that make you want to come back home and give your your wife a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek for not being one of them."

Bob turned to his colleague.

"No, Tommy. Chicks like this make you want not to have a wife."

Tom sighed.

"Amen to that."

* * *

"Well?" Kim looked back at the guys, freeing herself of the cap and glasses. Dex and Ron stood silent.

"How did I do?" she asked, freeing her hair from the ponytail.

"Weeeell..." Ron drawled mysteriously.

"Should we tell her?" Dex turned to the blonde teen.

"I guess so." the guy shrugged sadly.

"Are you ready for this?" the soldier turned to the red-head.

"I know I could've..."

"KP... You were amazing!" Ron shouted.

"Outstanding." Dexter added.

"Unbelievable!" Ron continued his tirade of salutes.

"Very real." the soldier nodded his head.

"Kim, if you ever think of Hollywood..."

"Just one thing!" Dex cut Ron off. He took some time to weave his thought.

Kims face, euphoric from the sea of praise, now showed a hint of fear.

"Tell me how the hell did you gather enough sass in you..." Dexters tone became threatning.

"Dex, if this is about..." she tried to explain.

"...to tell them that you're not a movie-star?"

"...that remark about..." she froze for a second,"What?"

"You told them that you're not a movie-star." you could sense the controled chuckle in his voice,"That was the most outrageous lie I've ever heard."

Ron bursted out in laughter, so did Dex. They high-fived.

Kim sighed in relief.

"KP." Ron started off officialy,"I think that you deserve a fair share of applauds."

Both Ron and Dexter began clapping. Rufus joined in.

"You guys." Kim blushed, curving a shy smile.

_"What the hell is going on here?" _someone shouted from behind the door.

Dex quickly grabbed his shotgun out of the box and fired off a shock-shell just as a guard appeared in the doorway. A silent puff was heard as it launched from the barrel and it's small nails lodged into the guards skin.

The man dropped to the floor in an instant.

"Alright." Dex turned to the couple,"Get him out of view. Shows over. Time to get to bussiness."

He cocked the shotgun.

"This time we do it MY way."


	23. Human nature

"What are you doing?" Kim asked, watching Dexter spray the guards hands, lips and back with some strange purple gel.

"Making sure he doesn't give us anymore trouble." responded the soldier, leaning the guard against the wall.

"What is that stuff, anyway?" the girl inquired..

"'STYX' bonding agent." Dex carefuly screwed the cover cap on the small canister,"12 mililitres of this stuff can glue an eighteen-wheeler to a wall in three seconds. Makes good makeshift handcuffs. Holds for, about, three hours. After that, it turns into a hard, pink substance that's easy enough to break off."

"Oh! Like a lollypop?" Ron asked.

"Something like that." nodded the soldier,"Only it tastes like a freshly painted park bench."

Kim gave him a questioning stare.

"You don't want to know." Dex shook his head.

He checked one last time, to make sure the bonding agent did it's job, then put the canister back in his backpack.

"Alright." the soldier said, standing up and grabbing hold of the shotgun,"Let's move."

They proceeded to the door when suddenly Kim turned around and was about to say something when Dexter threw his hand in front of her.

"Don't."

"Don't?" Kim rose her eyebrow at the unexpected gesture.

"Don't say what you were about to say." the soldier said with a strict tone.

"What was I about to say?" she asked, with more surprise than you might imagine.

"Just don't." Dexter shook his head.

"OK, OK! I won't say a word!" she said, angrily, then turned on her heel and darted through the door.

The commando let his hand down and silently closed the door upon exit.

"She was about to say it, wasn't she?" Ron asked, with slight disappointment in his voice.

"I'm sure she was." Dex sighed.

"But she didn't?"

"Didn't" nodded the masked one.

"I'm so proud of her." Ron wiped a tear off.

"You should be." smiled the soldier,"NOT saying IT in these circumstances means that she has a surprisingly strong will."

Suddenly, they heard a faint creak of hinges from behind them. Both Ron and Dexter turned around. Dexter, ready to open fire.

They saw Kims leg sticking from behind the open door.

_"Pssst... Stick around - it'll be fun!"_

She quietly closed the door and turned towards the guys who were now drilling her with accusing glances.

"Sorry." she blushed,"It was too hard to resist."

"Awww,KP!"

"I'm only human." she shrugged shyly.

Dexter sighed, turning around and motioning to follow him.

"I've got to stop hoping like this."

* * *


	24. Do The Shuffle

The guard threw a dead look across the corridor. The one he was walking through a onehundred and thirtyfifth time. Today.

There was nothing. Just like every day. Even if anything did happen - it's the other side of the island, Dementors lair.

"And I thought walking around and doing nothing was a piece of cake." yawned the guard stretching his stiffened back and shoulders.

His yawn stuck in his throat when he heard a draging sound behind the corner of the corridor. Two seconds later a white helmet emmerged, and continued to run down the corridor and past the guard.

The man slowly turned around, then jolted his head.

"Whoa!" he mumbled to himself,"I've got to loose this job before I loose my health and mind."

"Move and you'll loose all three of them." a husky voice whispered from behind. The guy felt something hard, pressing against his ribs.

He nodded silently. The hard object retracted from his back.

"He's all yours." he heard the voice say.

"Thanks, man." a high-pitched voice was heard. The guard felt someone put a hand on his shoulder and turn him around.

In front of him, stood a brown-eyed, blond character, with a slightly taller, masked one, behind him.

"Alright." sighed the first one,"Shove..."

He forcefully pushed the guard by the shoulder, causing him to spin around.

"Chin-grab."

Heard the man as a gloved hand pulled his chin back.

"Hand around neck. Palm in."

The fair-haired type muttered under his breath as he locked his right arm around the guards neck.

"Support the back and squeeze."

The guard felt pressure around his neck. With the blood-flow slowing and oxygen running out, he felt sleep wash over his head.

"Good." Dexter leaned in on the sleeper, then turned to Ron,"Now let him down. Slowly."

Ron staggered backwards a bit.

"Lean him on your knee. Make sure it's slightly bent. Now stick your right hand under his armpit, your left ankle hugging his neck. Knit their fingers together." the soldier ilustrated visualy,"Now carefuly turn him on his side and off your knee. Leg over him. Heel first, soft sole."

The teen did as he was told.

"So far so good." he said arching his foot over. Just as the last word left his mouth, his heel slipped and Ron ended up flattening against the guards back and face-planting the unconscious sentry directly into the floor.

Dex sighed as he watched Ron get off the body and stand up.

"Not bad." he nodded,"At least this time you brought his head to the ground, close enough for him not to break the tiles. I'd say... B+."

"Boo-yah!" Ron pumped his fist.

"Rufus gets an 'A', though." the soldier looked down at the white helmet that appeared from the corner,"You can take that off now."

The pink rodant threw the helmet off, saluted and ran back to Ron then swooped back into his pocket.

"According to the computer this should be the place." Dexter said bringing up his PDA.

"Question." Ron raised his hand," Why does Kim get to scout Dementors lab, while we wander around here?"

"Answer: Kim has to map out the security so she could sneak in when we distract them by cutting power to this sector."

"Another question."

"Answer to forseen question: They will assume that we blacked-out this sector in order to gain something from it. They'll rush in, searching for us - we'll bail out, hit the next sector and do the same. Dementor sends troops in - we disappear." the commando explained pulling off his backpack,"With all the commotion, Kim should have an easy time nicking the 'Lynxtorm' chip from the lab."

"So we're the distraction?" asked the teen with a sigh.

"You say it like it's a bad thing." Dexter said with a hint of surprise.

"It's because I always end up being chased after, shot at with all sorts of beams or even worse." Ron hanged his head.

Dex stared in silence, trying to imagine something worse.

"You don't want to know." the blonde waved his hands aside.

The soldier frowned a bit, though his mask hid it away.

"Running around, flapping your arms about and shouting 'Hey,look! I'm a target!' is not what I'd call a distraction." he shook his head,"A distraction is when you put your enemy between a rock and a hard place that aren't even there. Make them choose. Make them do what they wouldn't want to do and doing it like you've got nothing to do with it." he pulled out four black eggs out of the backpack and laid them on the ground.

Ron watched as Dexter took them apart, splitting each egg in two, and proceed to place them on the ground, wide side down.

"It's a game."he continued on placing the charges,"Kansas City Shuffle. They look right - you move left. Simple."

The egg halves now formed a circle on the floor. Dexter took a larger demo-charge from his backpack and placed it in the middle of it.

"So, if I got this right," Ron rubbed his chin," There's a way of causing a distraction without being chased, shot at and loosing your pants?"

The soldier sighed, putting his backpack on and standing up.

"You've gotl a lot to learn about being a commando." Dex said slowly shaking his head at the blonde teen. He grabbed Ron by the elbow and pulled him around the corner. The commando whipped out his remote detonator,"Class starts..."

He paused, pressing down on the safety switch and positioning his thumb on the 'fire' button.

"Now."

Click

* * *

AN: Sorry for the wait. Enjoy.

LnL,

FBB


	25. Simple genius

"Albrecht, for ze last time, zere is no such thing as a poltergeist!" Dementor shouted into the radio.

_"I'm telling the truth, Herr Professor. We saw toilets explode, water fountains burst and the soda machine was throwing cans at us. The men are scared."_

"Scared? SCARED?!" shouted the mad-scientist,"Wait untill I come down zere und shlap some sense into zem! Zen zey can be scared!"

Dementor slammed the radio on the table, then turned around and stomped out of the laboratory, muttering curses in perfect bavarian german and not forgeting to activate the sentry guns upon exit.

"Poltergeist?" Kim rose her eyebrow as she watched Dementors stubby figure disappear out of sight,"Seems that Dexter and Ron are having some serious fun."

She pulled the snake-cam out of the ventilation grate and put it into a pouch on her belt. A little something Dex wanted her to have.

The grate itself was a piece of steel enforced concrete, installed into the ceiling constructions. Chances of kicking it down were as real as stepping on a mine while talking a walk on the moon. Luckily enough, she had her laser pen with her.

Just a few moments and the grate dropped to the ground.

"Let's hope Dex set the radius right." Kim said pulling the plastic safety of the two EMP grenades. She quickly leaned out the hole in the ceiling and threw them into the opposite corners of the room. Before the turrets could do much, two strong magnetic waves swept through the sentries, frying their circuitry.

The girl opened her right eye and took a look around. The stinging ,cold wave had not touched her. She was fine.

Kim gave a sigh of relief, then vaulted out of the vent and landed softly on the ground.

No alarms. No henchmen. No blaster-fire. All - quiet and calm.

She felt a strange shiver crawl up her back as she walked up to the table where Dementors would-be doomsday weapon laid in it's formless, deconstructed state.

Open circuits, that should speak volumes of their, supposedly, malicious purpose, were silent to her untrained eyes. The only part she recognized was a blue-coloured square, socketed in the largest section of the machine. The 'Lynxtorm' chip.

The teen reached her hand out and removed the device. She looked around the lab one last time. Everything was quiet.

_"KP!" _Kim almost jumped out of her boots when she heard Rons voice through the earphone of the Kimmunicator, _"You done?"_

The girl pumped her fist, silently cursing herself for being taken aback so easily.

_"Kiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiim!" _the speaker drawled.

"I'm here, Ron." Kim sighed, frowning a little,"What's the sitch?"

_"Did you get the chip?" _Ron inquired.

"Got it."

_"We just saw Dementor storm out of his lab. Dex told me to 'get your status', while he goes to 'whistle for the birdie'."_ he made a small pause,_"Whatever that means."_

"I'm still in the lab. There's some strange device lying on the table, but I can't tell what it is. Let's just hope that it won't function without the chip."the red-head said, twirling the small square between her fingers," Say, Ron, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that poltergeist that's been haunting this place, would you?"

_"Oh, that? Yeah. That was us."_

"Typical." she sighed,"Leave the two of you for a moment and you turn a decent evil lair into a 'Haloween house of horrors'."

_"Hey!" _an annoyed squeak came through the earphone.

"Three of you." the girl corrected herself," Sorry, Rufus."

_"S'aright."_

_"We didn't really think of doing it, but Dex forgot his trip-wire, so we had to find something else instead. We stumbled onto a locker filled with hygene supplies, mainly - dental floss and toothpaste. It kind of snowballed downhill after that."_

Kim rose her eyebrow.

"How can you make toilets and water fountains explode with dental floss and toothpaste?"

_"And a naked molerat."_

"Riiiiiiight."

_"We simply loosened up the pipes a little bit, then filled it with toothpaste and cooled it with nitrogen. Then we rigged the walves to a counterweight, held by dental floss. When one of the henchmen tripped on it and released the counterweight that turned the valve and released hot water into the pipes, building up pressure and causing the loosened pipes to burst, compromising the integrity of the area waterworks, thus draining the toilets, which exploded because the toilet water from the floor above dropped down quickly, causing a blow-out bellow."_

Kim listened in silent shock and amazement.

_"Simple hydrodynamics."_ Ron added, in a casual tone.

"Simple?" the girl repeated,"How can this be called 'simple'? How can YOU call this 'simple'?"

_"Don't make me get technical,KP!"_ threatened the earphone.

Kim sighed in defeat.

"Fine."

_"Uh,oh. Kim, I just saw Dementor turn around. He's heading back to the lab."_ Ron poured out.

"How much time before he comes back?"

_"About, thirty, maybe fourtyfive seconds." the guy counted,"If you're still there - get out."_

Kim looked at the chip one last time, then tightly clasped it in her hand.

"Gone."

* * *

AN: The strangest thing is - I wasn't drunk when I wrote it.

LnL,

FBB


	26. Double trouble

"What do you mean by 'gone'?" Jenkins' eyebrow shot over the rim of his shades

_"Gone."_ Dementors already short figure got even shorter as he shrugged his shoulders,_"Poof. Not zere anymore."_

"This is very disappointing, Professor." the man scowled as he heard the news,"The BEX scanner is essential to our operation."

_"I undershtend your concern, Herr Jenkins, aber we had no idea this would happen."_ the masked man on the screen shook his head_,"We left ze decoy in ze gallery, where Kim Possible was supposed to find it, but it seems that we were infiltrated from ze ozer side of ze base."_

"Professor, please! I am not asking to explain yourself. " calmed the man in the suit,"However, you WILL have to complete your end of the bargain, one way or another."

_"But..."_

"Let me make this clear,Professor. Mr. Atkins does not tolerate error. All and any faults and defects must be eliminated." Jenkins pulled off his leather gloves, showing off his mechanical hands,"I learnt it the hard way."

_"I-I see."_ stuttered the scientist,_"Vell... I could replace the 'Lynxtorm' chip with twelve of 'Praxton und Miller' D20X model processors, but it would cost three times as much, und double ze machine in size."_

"As I've said before - money is of no importance in this matter. Time is." the man put the gloves back on,"How long will this take?"

_"If I order processors right now?"_

The man nodded.

_"Eine woche?"_ shrugged the Professor. The man in the suit smiled.

"Do it."

He snapped his fingers and the comm screen went dark. Jenkins stood silent for a few seconds.

"I wonder. If someone with a science degree is able to display such level of incompetence," the man frowned a little," what does that say to a regular..."

* * *

_...Buffoon..._

* * *

Ron stood completely still. His look fixed on something, a thousand yards away.

"Alright." said the soldier, taking two steps back from the teen,"You're ready for this?"

Ron nodded slightly keeping his gaze on the imaginary horizon.

"Three-punch. Lock and load. Go." Dexters voice commanded.

Ron quickly grabbed the shotgun, hanging by his side and fed three shells into the loading port, with unbelievable dexterity. A quick tug on the foregrip and the gun was ready to fire. So was Ron.

"Hold!" shouted the soldier. He clicked the chronometer in his hand and slowly walked up to the armed teen," Three point three seconds. A new personal record."

The commando look up at the gung-ho who was still aiming the gun at the horizon.

"Ron. You did good." Dexter carefully put his hand on the barrel and pushed it down,"You can put that down now."

"Wha-" just as Ron turned to the soldier the weapon fired off striking close to Dexters foot.

They slowly looked down, making sure everything is alright. The commando tightened his grip on the barrel.

"Heh." Ron quickly released the weapon from his hands,"Sorry about that."

"I don't think it's me you should be apologizing to." Dexter said in an undertone,"Don't look now, but I think you woke up the flamin' buddha."

Ron turned around, carefully. Kims shilhouette slowly came into view as he did.

"Sorry, KP, I didn't mean to interrupt your..."

"It's OK, Ron." Kim smiled,"We were just finishing up."

"We?" Dexter and Ron asked in a unison.

"Oh, right!" the red-head exclaimed cheerfully,"I haven't introduced you yet."

Kim closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Ron threw a questioning glance at the commando, but only recieved a shrug in return.

The soldier moved closer to have better view of the events that were to unfold.

The girl breathed out slowly, opening her eyes. The left one was shining with distinct electric glow.

"Guys - meet Prima! Prima - meet Ron and Dex!" she said, pointing at each of them in turn.

Rufus poked his head out of Ron's pocket.

"And Rufus."

Kims eyes scanned them from head to toe. Suddenly she smiled a strange smile.

"Hello. I am Prima."

Dex and Ron exchanged glances once more.

"Well," sighed the soldier,"this should be interesting."

* * *

AN: Nothing much, but please enjoy.

LnL,

FBB


	27. Clear sky

Dexter sat with his back to one of the chimneys of the Possible residence. He looked up at the starry evening sky. A perfect night for sattelite chit-chat.

He sighed carefully folding the wrapper of the nutrition bar. The remnants of his supper. Though only a dedicated astronaut could call it that.

_"SATCOM connection 393 authorized. Uplink established." __  
_

He picked up the PDA that sat next to him.

"Tango-2-Delta. Reporting in." the soldier mumbled sleepishly.

"Hey, Dex." Kim Lin's voice came out of the earphone,"How's it going?"

"Just had supper."

"Anything my speed?" inquired the tech wiz.

"Doubt that." smiled the soldier.

"Pork flavored nutrition bar?"

The commando stopped breathing for a second.

"You've been messing around with the spectrometer, haven't you?" he said with a hint of irritation.

"Nah. Your voice is always a little raspy after you eat one." explained the techie,"And for the record - you eat too much of those."

"Apparently, I do."

"Anything to report?" Lin cut right to the chase.

"Plenty." replied the commando.

An awkward silence settled on the comm channel.

"Well?" urged the sergeant.

"First of all - Kim completed the first stage of the infusion."

"Really? How was it? Were there complications? How about new abilities?"

Kim Lin poured so fast that the soldier didn't even bother to interrupt. Finally she ran out of air.

Dex sighed.

"You done?"

The earphone breathed in deeply.

"Yep." Lin gave a short squeak and breathed out.

"The AI surfaced." said the soldier after a few seconds of silent thought.

"W-what?" the girl stuttered.

"Prima. The AI..."

"Yeah! I get it!" she shouted into the microphone," What do you mean by 'surfaced'?"

"It spoke to me."

Lin ruffled her eyebrows.

"How?"

"Through Kim."

"Okay." the techie nodded,"How?"

"Verbally."

"Forced?"

"Don't think so." the soldier shook his head.

"So Prima obeys Kim's command?"

"It seems that way."

"Seems?" Kim Lin repeated.

"It doesn't show any emotion, so I can't tell if it's lying or telling the truth." the commando explained,"Don't expect me to trust it just like that."

"I suppose you're right."

"Secondly - the infusion has turned Kim's body into a closed circuit. The EACU is no longer needed to contain the scramble signal."

"That's great!" Lin paused for a moment,"Wait... Is it?"

"I'd say 'yes', but it's possible that the AI did that to get rid of the barrier that restricted it. Not a good thing in my book."

The computer whiz hummed silently.

"So Kim lost her ability to control electronics over range?"

"Control?" the soldier raised his eyebrow,"Call it whatever you want, but it certainly isn't 'control'."

"Scramble." Kim corrected herself quickly.

"That's better." nodded the commando.

"OK. I'll process the data. Meanwhile, I have..."

"New orders." the soldier said, holding his breath.

"Yeah."

"Saw that one coming. Miles away." he sighed, heavily,"Shoot."

"Apparently, Kim's website is being run by a 14 year-old wonderkid, Wade Load. He also helps her with the tech. Command wants you to establish contact and brief him on Kim's situation."

"Wonder if he'll want to talk to me." smiled the soldier,"Last time we saw each other, I put a .45 round through his communicator. Must've been the shortest video-chat session in history."

"You might think so, but you'd be wrong."

"Second shortest?"

"I checked through his biography AND his family members'. Something didn't add up. Then I noticed that he moved to Middleton when he was eight years old."

"Uh-huh. And?"

"That's six years back."

"I can count, Kim." grunted the soldier.

"Yeah, but do you remember what happened then?"

"Six years back." Dexters words took him back in time,"I joined the ops."

"The golden op. Darameron's 'Sea cradle'."

"The GOM experiment. The one with the kid..." Dexter became silent,"Wait. You think he's..."

"Mhm." Kim Lin hummed.

"Where is he?" the soldier stood up, turning towards the center of the city.

"Sending coordinates."

Digits lit up on the screen and a marker appeared on the tactical map of the PDA.

"I'm on my way." Dexter said after landing on the front lawn of the house.

"Hope he remembers." Kim said with a shy smile.

"So do I." huffed the soldier, making his way across the street,"And, Kim..."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

_Connection terminated._

_

* * *

_

A.N.: This fan-fic was, is and, undoubtedly, will continue to be poorly written.


	28. A kitchen reunion

Four figures stood on the windy mountain-side trail. Three of them were clad in heavy armor plates, their faces hidden by helmets, massive weapons and shields in their hands. The fourth one was but a small man, dressed in wizards attire, his only weapon being a traveler's staff.

"_We shall not let you pass, wizard!_" bellowed one of the paladins, pointing his longsword at the magician, _"For we are the mountain knights of Goll! Banishers of sorcery! Your foul magic cannot penetrate our enchanted plate mails nor can your barriers stop the blades of..._"

"Save it, pal," Wade grunted, quickly running his fingers through the keyboard, creating a virtual gust of wind and sweeping the loudmouth paladins off the road.

"It'll take some time for them to climb back up here," mused the boy-genius as he watched them fall. "Just enough for a refill."

He grabbed his empty soda cup and leapt out of his chair.

"Man..." he shook his head sadly, making his way to the kitchen, "Everlot's been a noob-mill lately."

Wade walked up to the soda dispenser that stood next to the fridge, popping the top of the cup and putting it under the tap. He pushed a button on the panel and a torrent of fizzling liquid rushed into the cup.

Since the cup takes some time to fill, he decided to check the fridge for snacks.

"Let's see..." he muttered under his nose while sorting through the products, "Ah! There we are!"

The super-genius grabbed a package of frozen corndogs at the far end of the fridge. He put one in his mouth and crunched it between his teeth, then stretched up-right, grabbed some BBQ sauce from the door pocket, then slammed it shut.

Wade froze.

It wasn't, by any means, an effect of the nearby refrigerator or the frozen corndog half in his mouth.

What caused him to stand completely motionless was none other than a tactical gear clad commando, holding a short-barreled shotgun, that now stood in front of him.

"Hey, kid." greeted the soldier, "Long time no see."

He viewed the 'kid' from head to toe and back.

"You've grown." a small curve appeared on his mask.

The soldier grabbed onto the stick of the corndog, tilted it up slightly, and carefully pulled it out of the startled youngsters mouth.

"Shouldn't you heat them up first?" he asked, examining the half eaten meat-on-a-stick.

Wade, still incapable of a vocal response, watched as the soldier slowly walked past him and made his way to a nearby chair.

"Ya know... I didn't recognize you on the communicator." the commando kept his eyes on the kid, while slowly taking his seat on the chair, "So, please, take no offense for that shot I fired. I didn't know it was you."

"It's cool. None taken." Wade shook his head, easing up a little,"You're not here to kill me."

"Is it that hard to believe that you have to say it out loud?" the soldier scoffed.

"Alright," the kid shook himself out of the paralyzing trance completely,"Who are you, why are you here and how the hell did you get past my security?"

"Three questions." the masked man snorted silently,"What do you think I am? A genie?"

"I'd rather believe in genies than accept the fact that someone mannaged to sneak past my security."

"It wasn't easy, I'll give you that. Seemed impenetrable at first..." the soldier paused for a moment,"But everything has a weakness."

The words echoed in Wade's head, resonating in the halls of his memory.

"You talk like you know me..."

"I do." nodded the commando.

"How?"

"Think six years back." the man threw his head back and looked up at the ceiling, Wade slowly looked up too,"The single, most terrible experience of your life."

The soldier looked back down at the kid.

"'Sea cradle' underwater research facility. The GOM experiment."

Wade stopped breathing for a second.

"How do you know?" he asked in a trembling voice,"Who-who are you?"

"You can call me 'Dex'." the commando motioned his head towards the chair that stood next to the startled youngster,"Take a seat. We have a lot to talk about."


	29. Dreamcatcher

Kim's hand tapped the "Snooze" button on the alarm clock. The annoying beeping that tormented her every morning was stopped before it even began.

The girl slowly sat up in her bed reaching for the ceiling.

"Morning, Dex."

She yawned, waiting for a response from the foot of her bed. Strangely - nothing came.

"Dex?"

Kim quickly cralwed to the end of her bed and peeked over the edge. Her Kimmunicator was lying on the floor with the soldier nowhere in sight.

The girl reached down and picked up the device, still scanning the ground for any traces of her masked nanny.

"See you at school..." she read the message on the screen outloud,"Susan?!"

Suddenly, the door opened with Kim's Dad barging into the room.

"Kimmy?"

Kim looked up from the screen of the PDA.

"Uhh... Morning, Dad." the girl smiled innocently.

"I thought I heard you say..." Doctor Possible's left eyebrow shot upwards,"Why are you lying on the other side of your bed?"

"I-ummm..." she quickly glanced at the device in her hand,"The Kimmunicator... It slipped... Off the bed! Soo... I thought it'll be quicker..."

"Oh! Well... You should be more careful with it, Kimmy-cub. That's sensitive electronics." Dad shook his finger, trying to sound as serious as possible (for a Possible).

"I know, Dad." Kim gave him a reassuring grin,"I'll try to be more careful."

"Mhm..."Doctor Possible smiled at his daughter," Now, hurry up. I don't want you speeding to school again."

"Huh? How..."

"The turn at Benson street makes the boys nauseous." he added before leaving through the door.

"Oooooohhhh... Those two!" Kim gritted bitterly after the door slammed shut,"Urgh!"

She looked down at the screen of the Kimmunicator, third time this morning.

"Good morning, Kim." Prima's soft monotone sounded in her head.

Kim sighed as the voice caught her off guard again.

"Good morning, Prima."

"I am sorry to startle you."

"That's okay. I'll get used to it, I guess." shrugged the red-head.

"I have just finished processing your nightly vision. The one you call a 'dream'."

Kim perked up.

"Really? How was it?"

"Most intriguing." a barely perceptable hint of excitment rang in the monotone, "The variations of your brainwave patterns were very interesting to observe. So were the two visual data stream sequences I had the oportunity to spectate."

"Interesting way to put it." Kim mumbled as she made her way to her wardrobe,"What did I dream about?"

"It seems the data has been purged from your memory momments after you woke up. I can reconstruct the visuals in virtual reality from my memory upon your request."

"OK."

A blur episode of Drakkens island appeared before Kim's eyes. She saw herself standing in mission clothes in a room, surrounded in a circle of fire which began shrinking, flames drawing closer and closer. All of a sudden she felt someone pull her by the shoulder, right through the wall of fire that surrounded her and out of the huge burning room. Kim turned around to see Ron. His face was concerned.

"Ron?" she asked outloud.

Prima was silent. The dream continued playing. Kim and Ron ran through the corridors of Drakkens lair, that now seemed like some sort of a dungeon. As they got out into daylight, she turned around and saw the tower crumble in the distance. The vision faded back into the sight of her wardrobe's clotheracks.

"Wait a minute... Ron saved me?" Kim asked again.

"It seems so." responded the voice in her head.

"Weird." the girl frowned slightly.

"Shall I play the second one?"

"Sure. Why not?" Kim smirked while putting her outfit on,"Can't get any weirder than this, right?"

Another vision came to life in her eyes.

"Oh no... Not again..." the girl put a her right palm over her face as she closed her eyes.

"Terminating program." Prima's voice poured out hastily,"Is something the matter?"

Kim sighed again, rolling her eyes around.

"It's the same dream I had a few times before... About the giant ice-cream cake."

"Under my calculations, complete consumption of such product for a single person of your body specifications would be a physical impossibility."

"Ron rescuing me would also be a physical impossibility." the red-head remarked tiredly," Dreams aren't supposed to make sense, Prima."

"I see." the dry monotone returned after a while of silence.

Kim stoped still for a few momments.

"I'm sorry." she sighed, "I know it's all new and interesting for you and you try to take it all in at once, but it's not that big of a deal."

"I understand." the spark reignited again,"I shall reasign priorities to gathered data as it comes. However, for the time being, may I continue background analysis of the recently gathered information?"

"Sure." Kim curved her lips slightly as she reached for the doorknob of her room door," Just... That thing about ice-cream cake?"

"Yes?"

"Let's keep it between you and me..."

* * *

P.S. Been a while, huh? Sorry for the wait. Ma-ha-ha-ha-jor writers block... Anyways - have a good read.

Luck in life,

FBB

P.S. Special thanks to Penumbrus. He knows why.


	30. Trustworthy

The man quickly paced down the corridor, making his way to the teachers lounge, his footsteps echoing in the morning silence. Barkin smiled. Not a student to disturb the majestic peace blanketing the school. Seems getting up early was worth every minute of sleep he lost.

Few meters away from the door to the lounge a faint aroma of coffee stopped him dead in his tracks. The door was slightly open.

"I didn't see any cars in the staff parking space." Barkin ruffled his brows in thought,"Wonder who..."

He carefully began advancing towards the door, trying to be as silent as possible. His hand gently pushed the door aside, widening the gap enough for him to be able to see the interior of the room. Apart a biege coffee mug, standing on the table, everything seemed in place.

"They just can't seem to remember to wash 'em after they're done..." the man mumbled to himself, throwing an angry glance at the cup.

"Don't worry. I intend to wash it after I'm done with reading this."

Barkin quickly snapped his head towards the voice.

"Morning, Chief." the janitor threw a free-form salute off his navy blue cap without looking away from the book in his hand.

"Mr. Grimm?"

"No need to be so official. You can call me Tobias or Toby." the man on the couch poured out quickly, but calmly,"Unless you had a dog named 'Toby' when you were a kid and that makes you feel largely uncomfortable."

The janitor removed his glance from the book and turn his look towards a very stunned school principal. A faint grin could be seen through his thick brown beard.

"Oh..." Barkin shook his head out of state of shock,"No. I didn't have any..."

"Just kidding, Chief. No need for explanations." the man pushed his shades up his nose,"I hope you don't mind me using the coffee machine. I wasn't going to stay, but I saw J.T. Kranster's "A sentence for a Jester" laying on the couch. Began reading and simply forgot to leave."

"It's OK. Everything's fine." Mr. Barkin closed the door behind him,"When did you arrive, if you don't mind me asking?"

"About an hour and a half ago." the man responded casually,"I still have the third floor left to clean."

Principal Barkin walked up to the cupboard and pulled out his own mug. The room became silent, the only sound being the trickle of coffee being poured.

"Which part are you reading?" he asked the janitor as he pulled the full mug up to his face.

"The jester talking about the guild of daggers."

"And what does he say?" Barkin asked after taking a sip.

_"Walls of stone, which are strong as the mountain,_

_ Guarded by cannons and bowmen,_

_ It's powerful towers could hold it's own,_

_ Against hordes of enemy soldiers,_

_ But as the elephant fears the mouse,_

_ And I say this without even joking,_

_ A fortress that could hold off a thousand of knights,_

_ Is nothing for the thief of the dirk clan._

_ The strong and the bold, the valiant knights,_

_ Though mighty, are but food for the cannon,_

_ A strike of the dagger in the dead of the night,_

_ Is a way to end war without fighting."_

The janitor raised his look up at Mr. Barkin.

"Sounds like a trustworthy guy." the principal smiled. Both men chuckled. All of a sudden a faint ticking sound was heard.

"Guess I should go back to cleaning up." The janitor stood up quickly, leaving the book lying on the couch,"Gotta get the third floor cleaned before the kids begin to pour in."

"You can take the book with you if you want to." Barkin shrugged as he watched the man pick up his mug and move to the door.

"I've read the end of it. Ends tragicly." the janitor smiled one more time before disappearing through the door.

Mr. Barkin walked up to the door and peeked out into the corridor. Nothing was there.

He jarred his head a little, rubbing his eyes.

"I should lay off the coffee." he mumbled to himself,"I could've sworn I just heard a shotgun being cocked..."


	31. Exposure

"So let me get this straight. A guy who uses mines for a pillow, knows what you're going to say before you do and can disappear into thin air if you so as much as blink - signs messages using 'Susan' as an alias?" Monique read the end of the message one more time and handed the Kimmunicator back to it's owner,"Pardon me for being blunt and all, but that Dexter fellow is a weirdo."

The recess was almost over and the girls were making their way to their next class.

"He's not that weird, really." Kim put the device back in her pocket,"It's just that... he has a different way of doing things."

"Mhmmm..." a sarcastic mumble came from her side.

"Mo!" the red-head threw an irritated look at her friend.

"What?" Monique shrugged her shoulders innocently,"I can't help it. He just looks like an awfully shady character to me."

"Hell-ooo-oh! Black ops!" Kim waved her hands around,"Supersecret?"

After giving Kim a stern look for a few seconds she finally dropped it with a deep sigh.

"I know, I know..." she mumbled, in an unsatisfied tone, "But are you REALLY sure you can trust him? I mean, how can you trust someone who doesn't even show his face?"

"He's a really nice guy!"

"Oh, come on, girl! PLEASE tell me you've got something better than that!"

"Let's see. He's polite, tolerant, helpful, always ready to answer a question. Even before you ask." Kim started naming,"Never complains, even if he has to sleep on the floor. Friendly, Funny..."

"Alright, I get it. He's a nice guy. But don't you still feel creepy with some weird type always watching you? Not even a bit?" Monique shivered slightly.

"No!" the red-head stated categorically,"We talked it over the first evening. His 'rules of engagement' and things considering my personal privacy."

"Rules of engagement?"

"Yeah."

* * *

_"I'm not here to cage you in. My mission is to protect you wherever you go and whatever you do when you want to do it. Your privacy, to me, is as important as your safety. Noone can feel safe when they're being watched constantly, so I will do my best to give you as much personal space as I can. I'll still have to accompany you to your missions, but when there's no immediate threat to your person or well-being, you can ask me to leave and I'll do just that. You want some time alone or do the whole girlfriend-boyfriend thing with Ron - just tap me on the shoulder and I'll move away."_

* * *

Monique's eyes shot wide open and slowly turned to her friend with a silent question. Kim nodded in return.

* * *

_"Your friends and family members will not know about your condition unless required or accidentally exposed. The less they know the less they worry. The same goes for you. If I tell you that you don't want to know - trust me on it. If, by any chance, someone else finds out - be sure to inform me. Also it depends on who finds out. Sometimes it can mean grave danger to both, them and you, or it can even help by giving you another person to talk to. Again - the less people know, the less worry."_

* * *

"Wow. Now I'm worried that he's being too open about it. Wasn't this supposed to be supersecret? Black Ops? All that?"

"I wondered about that too. He said that it's about 'being obviously unnoticeable'."

Again, her friends puzzled face turned to Kim asking for a more thorough explanation.

"It's hard to explain. It's like, when you're talking to him, even face to face... Well, more like face to mask, but you get the idea..."

"U-huh."

"When you talk to him it seems like he's not there. Like you're talking to yourself."

"Like I said - weird."

"What is really weird is how Ron and Dexter are able to understand each other that good. Almost telepathically."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..."

* * *

_"Whatcha got in mind, D-man?" Ron asked the janitor suited commando who seemed to be deep in thought.  
_

_"Murder." mumbled the soldier through his thick brown beard.  
_

_"A pack of crows?" the teen inquired.  
_

_"Exactly."  
_

* * *

"OK. That's..." Monique made a pause to gather the words," Beyond weird."

"Maybe it's a guy thing or something? I don't know. Maybe I just think too much about it, but it's the only thing that actually worries me. And I don't know why."

"That's why you asked me about 'Ron - the commando', right?"

Kim nodded casting her eyes down at the ground.

"You know, what?" Mo curved a sly-fox smile,"I think I just might know a way to find out..."

* * *

Grand Specter Inc. HQ Level 115. Communications monitoring and control center.

"NO!" cried the poor technician as he once again looked up at the screen of his computer, "NO! No, no, no, no, NO!"

Everyone's eyes turned to the frustrated guy who was now sitting quietly with his forehead firmly pressed to the monitor.

"All of our scanners." he babbled,"All of our screens... GONE!"

Soon a sea of whispers filled the room. His colleagues stared silently at the sobbing, broken down man, leaning on the computer.

"Is something the matter, Mr. Simms?" a cold hand, followed by an even colder voice, weighed the technicians left shoulder. He swallowed loudly and turned to confront it.

"M-mr. Jenkins... S-sir..." a scared stutter escaped his mouth. The pressure on his shoulder increased as the man in black leaned towards the monitor.

"Is this true, Mr. Simms?" the mans shades flickered at the technician,"All of them?"

"Ye-Ye..." Simms took a deep breath and sighed,"Yes, sir. All of them."

"Hmmm..." the suited man hummed loudly.

"Everything was working fine a few minutes ago. Every screening circuit responded perfectly, scanners worked fine. I double-checked. After half an hour everything went black. At the same time. No malfunction, no warning, just... Blip!"

"Blip, you say?" Mr. Jenkins stretched back up, removing his hand from the technician Simms' shoulder.

"Yes, sir. Just 'Blip'."

"Mhm." the man in black hummed again. Everything around them was dead quiet.

"Sir, please don't replace me, sir. It's... I couldn't do anything to help it, sir. I..."

"I don't blame you, Mr. Simms." the suit beamed, casting his look down at the babbling guy,"The fact that our measures were countered so quickly and effortlessly means that we're simply using the wrong ones."

"ATTENTION!" Jenkins bellowed, turning around,"Due to apparent work stress caused by technical difficulties, COM1 and COM2 are hereby to stand down and take three days of unpaid vacation for therapy purposes. For the time being communications monitoring will be transferred to GSI automated control systems." seeing that everyone in the room were frozen in silence, he added,"Effective immediately!"

The whole comm center fell into a rush, resembling a fire drill. In record time, the room was abandoned, only leaving the man in black to stand there silently.

"All at once." he mused in a half-tone," No direction of attack, no way to determine sequence... They're good."

The man laughed silently, taking a seat on the technicians chair.

"Foiling our recon drones, destroying the "Sandman" prptotype, knocking out our scanners. They're really good." he whispered to himself,"It seems, it's time to take matters into my own... hands."


	32. Chain of command

Dexter slowly pushed the janitors cart forward, trying to avoid the students that were rushing by. Both, the busy morning and the near sleepless night, had taken a toll on the soldier forcing him to cling to his waking state with all his remaining will, thoughts of a hot cup of darker-than-black coffee being the only driving force behind the motion.

"Stupid... Aghhh!" a sharp shriek pierced his ears,"Work already!"

The commando stopped the cart and slowly turned his head towards the voice. What he saw was a well tanned brunette, apparently, locked in a struggle with a drinking fountain. A silent grunt escaped the soldiers throat as he looked away.

"Dilemma time." Dex mumbled to himself,"I can either walk away and come back to fix it after she inevitably breaks it, OR confront a teen in an attempt to stop property damage."

Suddenly a loud thud was heard, causing the commando to breathe a heavy sigh.

"Kicking won't help." Dexter said loudly, turning to the exasperated teen, "I can assure you of that."

The girl quickly snapped back at the janitor. Her face, surprised at first, quickly gained an angry glare.

"It's broken! Can't you do something?" she shouted.

Dex walked up to the fountain, surveying it with his eyes. He crouched near it, then wound up his arm a little and smacked the fountain on the side.

"Hmmm..." the soldier mumbled after hearing the echo.

"Well?" asked the brunette as the janitor stood up,"Aren't you even going to TRY to fix it?"

"Nope." the man replied curtly.

"Because?"

"Because..." Dexter trailed off. He put his thumb on the release lever and applied some pressure, producing no result, he moved his thumb under the lever and pulled it upward, releasing a stream of water, "Because it's not broken."

"How did you do that?" the girl turned her dumbfounded gaze to the janitor.

"I pulled the lever up."

"Up? But it isn't supposed to be up! It's supposed to be down!" she shouted at the man like it was his fault.

"I'm sure this turns your world upside down, but next time consider more than one possibility." the commando said, attempting to return to the cart.

"You're not going to fix it?"

"I told you already - it's working fine. You just have to pull the lever up instead of pressing it down."

"But it's not supposed to be like that! Why don't you fix it? Isn't that, like, your job?"

"Listen... What's your name?"

"Bonnie." the girl snared her hands on her chest.

"Bunny," he nodded,"I'm not going to take the whole fountain apart so I could refit the release just because someone can't move the lever in an opposite direction, understood?."

"Well, you should!" Bonnie huffed,"And it's BONNIE, not bunny!"

"Great. Another fine product of the education system." mumbled the soldier, obviously irritated, as he turned towards the janitors cart," It's strange how someone who can fold herself into human origami has mind flexibility comparable to a dry twig.",he looked back at her for a second," I know I shouldn't expect much from some cheerleader, but come on..."

"SOME cheerleader?" Bonnie's eyes lit up with hate, her eyebrows clouding over them,"Excuse me? I'm the CAPTAIN!"

"Ooooh! Captain?! Really?!" Dex said with mock astonishment in his voice,"Should I be standing at attention right now? Maybe even saluting you?"

The angry look in the girl's eyes was replaced by that of confussion. The commando noticed that.

He tensed his back, clacked his boots together and bellowed: "Attention! Captain Bunny on deck! I repeat, Captain Bunny on deck!"

The whole corridor froze, all looks turning to Bonnie.

All of a sudden, Dexters hand shot up and froze at his temple. One of the students standing nearby did the same. Quickly, the whole corridor turned into an ununiformed military parade. By that point Bonnie's face was burning with an almost purple blush. She quickly got past the janitor and her smiling schoolmates, ducking behind the corner and out of sight.

"Guess she wasn't all that thirsty..." mused the commando.

He lowered his hand and relaxed. Although there were still chuckles and whispers here and there, the former rustle, charachteristic to school recess, returned to the corridor. However, one of the students, the one who started the chain reaction, still stood at attention with his hand still saluting.

"What are you supposed to be?" the janitor narrowed his eyes.

"First Mate Josh Mankey, reporting for duty, sir!"

"Mankey. Sounds like something I had to sweep out of the kitchen yesterday.", an ear to ear smile appeared on the youngsters face, "I appreciate the back-up, but show's over. Get lost."

Josh lowered his hand and walked off, snickering silently.

"Teenagers." Dex sighed, shaking his head sadly.

"What was that about?" he heard a voice behind him.

"Oh, nothing..." shrugged the commando, turning around,"Morning, Kim."

"A little too loud for a 'nothing', don't you think." the redhead narrowed her eyes at him,"I could feel the heat off Bonnie's face when she ran past me in the hall. So... What happened?"

"She pulled rank on me." Dexter said in a deadpan voice. Kim rose an eyebrow," You had some other question in mind when coming here to talk to me, I gather."

"Yeah." the girl nodded, dropping the suspicious glance,"I wanted to ask you if it's okay if I go to the Mega Mall..."

"Sure. You and Ron, right?"

"Ummm... Not exactly. My friend, Monique..."

"Does she know?"

"Know what?" Kim asked, blinking innocently.

Dexter tipped his head to the right.

"Yes." the redhead nodded shyly.

"Alright. That's all I needed to know."

"Ohhh-kay... Great!" Kim, now smiling with relief, began retreating from the commando," See you after school, then."

"See you."Dexter threw a freeform salute as he turned back towards the cart,"A field trip to the mall.", he thought to himself,"Guess I should've brought my coupons along."


	33. Hidden wind

There was a huge space in front of him. A room filled with darkness and iron bars. Above the door it read 'Specimen containment. Cell block C'. From within it echoed the whispers, sobs and cries. Each and everyone of them came in a child's voice. The commando felt a shiver crawl up his spine.

_"This isn't right."_

* * *

"Dex?"

The soldier opened his eyes and took a quick look around. He was sitting on the floor of Kim's bedroom, with his back to the wall next to the window.

"You didn't hear a thing I just said, did you?" Kim asked, narrowing her eyes.

"No. Sorry. Didn't get my beauty sleep today." the commando replied through a supressed yawn, "What'd I miss?"

"I was asking you if you're going to the Mall dressed like that." the teen pointed at him across the room.

"Yeah, I am." nodded the soldier.

"You're joking, right?" the girl asked in a hopeful tone.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to be walking around the Mall like this." calmed the commando,"I'll acquire some appropriate clothes on site."

"You're not going to actually walk up to a cashier dressed in that and ask for... You're thinking of stealing them, aren't you,"Kim frowned a little. Dexter didn't respond."Stealing is wrong, you know."

"Right and wrong is about moral choice, really. And, since I'm not stealing for profit or to cause harm, the stealing I do isn't all that morally wrong." Dexter explained,"Besides, by the time the shops undergo inventorization, the winds of fashion will sweep half of the clothes price off so they won't even care."

The girl crossed her hands on her chest, pouting her lips.

"If it helps, you might want to know that I'm supposed to burn the clothing upon exiting the area of operations." shrugged the soldier.

"It doesn't." Kim mumbled bitterly.

Dexter pulled his PDA up and clicked the screen with the thumb of his glove.

"Your mom's back."

"She's early." she said surprised, but she quickly turned a suspicious glance to the commando,"Wait... You don't have her chipped or anything?"

"Her car engine sounds different from your dad's."

"You can tell?" Kim rose her eyebrow.

"You learn to pay attention to stuff like that when..." Dexter didn't finish. He stood up and opened up the window,"She's coming up."

"Kimmie! Are you home?" Mrs. Possible's voice rang not far from the door.

"I'm here, Mom!" Kim responded. The door opened and her mom walked inside.

"Hi..." she scanned her daughter from head to toe,"You're going somewhere?"

"The Mall."

"You've done all of your homework?"

The teen nodded.

"Already?" Doctor Possible rose her eyebrow.

Kim nodded twice for some extra reassurance.

"Okay then..." her mother smiled. She noticed the open window,"A little chilly here, don't you think?"

"A little." agreed the girl. As her mother moved toward the window she moved to the door, catching hold of the handle just before the draft slammed it shut,"Anyway. I'm going, Bye."

"Any hints on when you're coming back? I have to start dinner, you know?" Mrs. Possible turned back just to find an empty room behind her.

"I'll be back in a few hours." she heard a voice from downstairs.

"You should take your jacket! It's going to get windy in the evening!"

"Alrightthanksmumloveyoubye!" the front door slammed and Anne sighed, turning her attention back to the window. Suddenly she saw a strange silhouette, sitting on the roof. She stared at it for a few moments, then closed her eyes and rubbed them with her fingers. The sound of the starting engine caused her to open her eyes quickly. The silhouette was gone.

Doctor Possible leaned out the window and looked around. The roar of the engine faded in the distance. She pulled her head back inside the room and closed the window.

"I should move up that eye check-up in my schedule." she said to herself as she walked out of the room and closed the door,"I just hope it's the only check-up I need..."


	34. Double L

"I hate malls."

The commando cringed as he watched masses of people drift across the main floor.

_"Why that?"_ ringed a question in his ear.

"I don't know, Wade. There's just something sinister about them. Bright ads, loud people, annoying shopkeepers asking everyone if 'they're okay'..."

"Their structural likeness to Dante's described Hell?" the boy-genius added.

"That too." Dex nodded,"Still, not the worst hell to walk through. And it's air-conditioned."

"Frankly, I don't understand this fascination with direct contact." Wade shrugged, slurping his soda, "Can't you watch her from the shadows? It's not like anyone could get to her before you could, if something happened."

"I'm hardly thrilled with the whole idea, myself." the soldier frowned, remembering the pleasantries that are about to become him,"Not only do I have to play dress-up, I also need to stash my gear. Then, after I'm done, go back, pick it up, get rid of the *borrowed* clothes..."he sighed heavily," But I promised her, that I will respect her privacy, so..."

"You're going to respect her privacy by sticking close to her?" Wade rose his eyebrows.

_"Yeah."_

"Sounds a little bit, oh, I don't know..." he considered the next word for a second," Inverted?"

_"Let's put it this way: Who would you feel more comfortable with - a person you can talk to or some kind of boogieman, lurking in the shadows?"_

"Mmm..." Wade hummed,"A boogieman with a personality?"

_"Smooth, kid." _mumbled the soldier, with a hint of annoyance_," Really smooth."_

"I try." shrugged the genius, taking a sip from his soda cup.

"Don't exert yourself. I might need you to do me a favor."

_"Depends on the favor."_

"There's a clothes store on the first floor near maintenance stairwell B. I'd need you to loop their cams while I pick up a set of clothes."

_"That's it?"_

"Got you worried there for a second, huh?"

"Give me a minute." Wade set the cup back on the table and his fingers began surfing the keyboard." Looks like they missed their firewall update this month. Thirty seconds, then."

"Take your time. I wanted to talk to you about that little dilemma we discussed earlier. Your past and the GOM experiment." Dexter took his eyes off the crowds and gazed up at the ceiling," You make up your mind if you want to tell Kim and Ron about it?"

The commando waited for a few moments, listening to the symphony of keys and fingers.

_"No." _he finally heard the answer_,"I don't think this is something I'd want to share with them. At least not now."_

"Really?" Dexter asked, slightly surprised of the how sure it sounded," Seems like a good opportunity to do so. With me here to verify the story..."

"_You of all people should know the reasons of keeping something secret." _Wade said, pausing his typing for a few moments_," This knowledge would provide another dimension to my portrait in their mind, which could scare them. For good. I don't have a lot of friends, Dex. I don't want to lose the ones I have."_

"They don't seem like the type that you can scare easily." mused the commando.

The button mashing resumed.

"I'm just saying that secrets have a way of getting out. Wouldn't have to do what I do if they didn't." continued the soldier," Someplace, sometime..."

_"But it's not the time, Dex." _Wade cut him off before he could finish_," And definitely not the place."_

"That we can agree on." Dexter sighed, lowering his eyes back at the main floor.

"Alright." the boy genius snapped his fingers," The cameras are taken care of. You're good to go."

_"Going. Thanks a bunch, kid."_

"No problem." he replied coolly," Fair warning, though - make sure you don't look like one of the former presidents. They don't tolerate that thing here."

_"You've got to be kidding me..." _the commando's cry came through the speakers.

"Nope." Wade smiled," Have fun, dude. Kid, out."

* * *

A/N: Finally. When I get past this Mall episode, chapters will come like the rain. Be prepared. Oh yeah... Luck in life.

FBB


	35. Of Coffee and Boogeymen

The ocean of shoppers fluxuated before the trio of teenagers as they sat on the bench against a wall. Their mission, an ambitious undertaking, was to match a name to a face that they've never actually seen. This idea, not surprisingly, was beginning to seem rather pointless for the watchmen, bringing voices of disbelief in the success of the endeavour.

"This isn' t going to work, you know?" Kim stated, slightly annoyed, as she reclined in her seat and cocked her head back, looking up at the ceiling,"Besides, the mall is huge. What makes you so sure he'll come through here?"

"This section is dedicated to clothing stores and boutiques. If he wants to pick up a set of duds, he' ll have to come through here and, after that, through one of those doors. Now keep alert. Anything on your side, Ron?"

"Don't see him anywhere, Mo'." Ron's voice came from Kim's right,"Rufus, how's our six?"

The last line made the redhead quickly snap towards the voice, spotting a naked pink rodant sitting on the back rest of the bench and starring at the wall behind them.

"What's Rufus doing?"

"Guarding our back?"

Kim took another look at the molerat that seemed afraid to move or even blink as not to miss something important.

"Ron, he's not going to come out of the wall." The redhead sighed ruffling her eyebrows slightly.

"Could be, KP. He's the sneakiest dude I ever met and I'm closely acquainted with a ninja clan, so that's saying something."

The cheerleader breathed a sigh of frustration and cocked her head back on the benchrest.

BEEP-BEEP-BE...

Before the tone could ring fully, Kim instinctively snatched the Kimmunicator out of her pocket and brought it to her face.

"Go, Wade." she said to the device out of habit of having her tech-savy sidekick on the other line.

"Go away?"

The dullness quickly disappeared upon hearing an unusual voice from the speaker and Kim straightened up in her seat.

"I'm not the preaching type, but your phone etiquette needs work." came a slightly disappointed scold. The device provided no video feed, but the caller tag read "Susan".

"Dexter!" the teen voiced her surprise, causing the designated watchmen to quickly snap towards the gadget in Kim's hand,"How... Where..."

"Third floor. Coffee shop. East of the southern elevator."Kofi's...""

* * *

"Coffee..." Kim read the sign above the 'Kofi's Coffee' cafe,"Figures."

"So all the time we were looking out for him he was up here sipping on a cup o' Joe?" the frustration and slight embarassment were apparent in Monique's voice, "Last time I expect something outta him."

"I told you it won't work. Consider this a lesson learned." the redhead chimed sweetly as the group made their way into the establishment.

The lounge of the coffee shop was permeated with a strong scent which, when inhaled, seemed to make you more awake regardless whether you were feeling sleepy or not. Among the chairs, tables, hipsters and other furniture, Kim spotted a familiar navy-blue cap accompanied by a pair of shades. Blue jeans and a plaid shirt made him seem quite natural to the enviroment.

"There he is."

The commando sat with his head resting on the clenched fist of his left arm. His other hand held over an open book to keep the pages apart. Naturally enough, beside was a steaming cup of coffee. Kim rolled her eyes around as she walked up to the table.

"Coffee. I should've known." she said as if to herself.

"You know what they say," mumbled the commando, still reading the book,"Six cups of coffee a day keep the boogeyman away."

"Or awake."

Monique walked up from behind Kim.

"Cute." the soldier said in a deadpan voice.

"Monique!" Kim cried out throwing a look of discontent at her friend,"Be nice!"

"He can take a joke, can't he?"

"Doubt they'd let me call down sat-strikes if I couldn't." sighed the commando, moving the chair back and standing up.

He offered his hand to Monique in greeting. Only now did they notice that he had no beard anymore. Instead it was replaced by a goatee, making him look more like a college student than a man in his thirties.

"Dexter Troy. Pleased to meet you." He smiled. First time Kim actually saw him smile,"You can call me Dex."

The brunnete hesitantly took the soldiers hand and shook it. After that Dexter sat down and went back to reading. The girls took a seat aswell.

"What are you reading there?" the redhead drew attention to the book on the table.

"Zen and the art of lawn mowing. Picked it off the 'Free Reads' shelf."

"Would read anything, huh?" Monique narrowed her eyes.

"There were worse choices." the soldier shrugged, finally closing the book and picking up the coffee cup,"Say, shouldn't Ron be with you?"

"D-man!" the answer came immediately as they heard the teens voice from the side. Ron approached them with a cupcake in hand.

"Now that we're all here..." Dexter said, as Ron took his seat gnawing upon the aformentioned pastry,"What's the plan?"

"Plan. Right." Kim glanced at her BFF," Ummm..."

"Shopping. Dinner. Movie." Monique worded all of the suggestions, "Not necessarily in that order."

The sound of chewing directed everyones attention to Ron. Feeling his tablemates looks upon him, Ron quickly swallowed the remainder of his bite.

"So... Dinner first?" Kim asked.

"I'll admit, it'd be nice to have something that doesn't resemble space food for a change." Dex nodded after finishing the last drops in his coffee cup.

"YES!" Ron pumped his fist.

"Didn't you just eat?" Monique raised an eyebrow at the blond teen.

"That was just one cupcake!" Ron responded, almost feeling insulted,"I need way more!"

"Let's GO already..." Kim began standing up from here chair.

"Hang on a sec." Dex stopped her, picking himself up from his seat "I'll get some coffee for the road..."

As Kim returned to her seat she noticed Monique shaking her head slowly.

"Six cups of coffee a day..."

* * *

A/N: Time for my annual update. Enjoy if at all possible. I'll give it my best (which isn't much, really) to update sooner.

Luck in life,

Fallin' Brick Blues


	36. Commando Cakes

After purchasing tickets to "Bricks of Fury 7: The Last Brick Falls", the trio of teens and their commando companion settled down in a gelato shop to pass the time until the beginning of the movie.

"So... Commando." Monique said, placing her milkshake on the table in front of her," What do you do, exactly?"

Dexter pushed his shades up his nose.

"How exact do you want me to be?" he asked after a few seconds of thought.

"I don't know. An example would be nice." shrugged the brunette.

"Yeah, like, what's a typical day for a black ops commando?" Kim actualised the question, from the other side of the table.

"Typical..." the soldier mused silently, before reclining in his chair, crossing his arms on his chest," Off-mission, a typical day would be enjoying recreational activities or training. On a mission, 'typical' is harder to place. Black Operations are anything but 'typical'."

"Such as?" Monique asked, picking up her milkshake.

The commando diverted his look to the table and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Supervising an assisted volcano eruption to save a millenia old subterranean civilisation from getting pressure-cooked." he smiled faintly, turning back to the brunette,"Then staying there to train them in the application of explosives so they could do it themselves the next time the situation arises."

"So..." Ron started saying something, but the soldier cut him off.

"Commando responsibilities are many. Training, infiltration, tactical support, retrieval, detail, reconnaissance, surveillance... A commando is a factotum. Jack of all trades. If need be, a commando will, learn how to, and, bake a cake if it benefits the mission."

"I imagine that would taste awful." Monique scoffed.

"How so?" Dexter asked, his eyebrow popping over the rim of his shades.

"Well, you know..." the brunette, said, seeming slightly inconvenienced by her own words," Jack of all trades is a master of none. Meaning..."

"Though often better than a master of one." Ron piped in, interrupting her. This earned him an annoyed frown from the brunette.

"I don't quite agree that a lack of specialisation automatically translates to poor application." Dexter explained further,"I believe that what I'm trying to say is, a commando cake might not win any baking competitions, but it'd still be nice enough to bite on with a cup of tea. Basic, but not bad."

"How about ice-cream cake?" Ron asked, watching as his portion of gelato starting to melt,"Could you make commando ice-cream cake?"

Dexter shrugged.

"Probabbly. If..."

Suddenly a loud thud was heard, resulting from a forehead connecting with the tabletop of their table.

"Feeling alright, Kim?" Monique asked, concerned.

"Fine." the redhead mummbled.

The soldier took a careful look around, then slowly reached into his satchel that rested by his leg.

"Just... Why ice-cream cake?" Kim asked, raising her head off the tabletop and looking at each of her companions in turn,"WHY are we TALKING about ICE-CREAM CAKE? I mean, REALLY?"

The table fell silent for a few momments. Monique, Dex and Ron exchanged a few glances.

"How about waffle cake, then?" Ron suggested.

"Waffle cake?" Dexter repeated, sounding intrigued,"Sounds promising."

"Sounds pretty bland." Monique ruffled her brows at the idea.

"A stable platform to work on, though. Just add some cinnamon and..."

"What? No way! Waffles ain't waffles if there's no chocolate, and you can't have chocolate with cinnamon!" countered the brunette.

"You can make one half chocolate and one half cinnamon, or just make one layer of one and another of something else. It's a cake, after all." Ron said, playing the 'Solomon' position.

Kim could only helplessly watch as the culinary debate escalated. Her head slowly descended back to the table. A deep sigh escaped her mouth.

"So help me, if I'm having dreams about waffle cakes after this..."

* * *

A/N: It was either go silly or go home. I decide to go home after the silly.

Luck in life,

Fallin' Brick Blues


	37. The Movies

"Did you raise the platform? Did they get through?"

"I did. I saw them making their way here through the monitors. Are you alright?"

The commando sat against the wall of the cold corridor. A bullet wound in his leg kept bleeding, but the tourniquet helped. The small child before him shivered in his hospital gown as he witnessed the soldier silently wince in pain.

"I feel like I've been shot out of a circus cannon." the soldier laughed half-heartedly. The joke didn't seem to calm the child down.

"Can you move?" inquired the little one.

"I'm not dying yet, kid. Just catching my breath." scoffed the soldier,"Bear with me."

He planted the barrel of his shotgun into the floor for support and slowly rose to a stand.

"Let's get out of here. Come on." the commando said, turning and limping a few steps towards an open bulkhead. Suddenly a distant echo of hurrying footsteps caught their attention. Both turned around, looking the way the sound was coming from.

"Your friends?" asked the boy.

"Heavy Assault Units wear mechanized armor. These are too fast and too many of them." the soldier turned to the child, and said as silently and calmly as possible,"Run for the door. Now."

The kid looked at the soldier with questioning eyes, but he commando grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him aside while whispering, "Go. Now. Move."

A few moments later a dozen of armed and armored people came into the corridor junction. They looked around, spotting the wounded commando standing in the middle of the corridor.

"There he is!" bellowed one of them. His teammates quickly planted riot shields into the floor, aiming the guns at the lone figure.

The commando looked behind, to see if his protectee was still in view, but the boy was nowhere in sight. He turned back to face the troopers.

"You talkin' to me?" he asked, pointing his left hand index finger at his balaclava-clad face,"Are you talkin' to me?"

"Give us back the runt, swine, or we'll lead you dead and then some more!" the vocal trooper shouted loudly,"You hear me?"

"There's noone else here so you MUST be talking to me!" the soldier nodded.

"Are you stupid or what?" raged the trooper,"Where's the kid! You have seven seconds to answer. That's more than five and less than ten. One!"

The soldier sighed.

"Two!"

Even though his wounded leg pulsed with searing pain, he straightened his back and stood at full height.

"Three!"

Suddenly he heard a ticking sound in his earphone. Motion sensors he deployed earlier announced HAU units approaching the bulkhead.

"Four!"

"This. Is going. To suck." he thought dropping his gun at his side and tensing his intact leg for a jump.

"Five!"

With the sound of whooshing hydraulics he heard the door open behind him.

"Si... The hell!"

"Clear field of fire, Delta." came the command from his earphone.

The commando tried to lunge backwards but his leg slipped on the puddle of his own blood, sending him crashing on his back.

"Blast these bastards!" screamed the trooper, leveling his gun towards the end of the corridor.

"Engaging." announced the earphone as the automatic cannons of HAU gunners began to fire with a deafening roar.

The soldier stared at the ceiling watching the exchange of bullets as they flew over his aching body. Weakly turning his head to his right, he saw the child behind one of the many support columns, clutching his ears, kneeling in his own puddle, quaking in fear and shock, The fire from the trooper side fell silent, heavy steps of heavily armored gunners passing the soldier by.

Still in pain, the commando reached his hand out to the boy.

"It's alright." he said, though he couldn't hear his own voice,"It's alright. It's..."

* * *

...Over...

* * *

"It's over!"

The soldier quickly opened his eyes, although it wasn't apparent as his shades were still on.

"The movie's over, Dex! Wake up!" Kim prodded the soldier in the shoulder forcefully.

The commando turned his neck from side to side causing it to crackle a little.

"Dude! You slept through the movie?" Ron asked with a look of utter shock on his face,"You missed all the explosions!"

"Guy drinks six cups of coffee and falls asleep during the sickest action movie of the year." Monique's discontented voice came from the seat just over Ron's. She shook hear head slowly," That's not even weird. That's downright outrageous!"

"Wasn't exactly hard to figure out the outcome. Figured I'd nap until it gets interesting." the soldier shrugged, as they began moving towards the exit," Guess I overslept. Besides, I've seen better explosions."

"So all in all, thumbs up?" Ron inquired as they approached the exit.

"Let's just say..." The soldier sighed," I've seen worse."


End file.
